Legacy
by StevenQ
Summary: When an ancient darkness rises in Corona and threatens her entire family, Rapunzel and her cousins Elsa and Anna are in for the fight not only of their lives, but of the lives of all their ancestors too.
1. Prologue

Author's note: Welcome to Legacy, A fic that began life as a Frozen/Tangled crossover, and in the planning has expanded to encompass the vast majority of the Disney Princesses franchise. I intend to update this story every Friday. While I consider myself knowledgeable regarding Disney lore and its movies, if I miss anything, please let me know.

Fun fact: It was Frozen that brought me back into the Disney fold after having drifted away. I only really went to see Frozen because Idina Menzel was in it, so yay for celebrity casting. It also means I have a lot of catching up to do with my Disney product for recent years.

* * *

"My, that is ambitious," Hades said with a smirk. "And while I'm normally onboard with chaos and disaster, you do know I'm not the lord of the Underworld anymore right? Ever since Hercules threw me into the Styx, I've been a bit at loose ends."

The woman standing across from him in the dark and desolate landscape didn't respond to his levity. Even here, In this damned place beyond life where there was nothing but the dead spirits of all things foul, this woman had a regal bearing that the greatest mortal monarch could not have bettered.

Limbo was a strange place in many ways. Souls of mortals, even powerful sorceresses would normally go to whatever reward or punishment they had earned in life when they died. Some however were able to make exceptions. Sufficient power, as was the case with the woman standing near him, or a bargain struck with the right kind of monster or demon would allow the wicked to escape their justice. Their souls ended up here, a bleak wasteland of grey rock that stretched out forever in all directions.

A place of nothingness and void where any joy that a person had would slowly be leached from them until they simply stopped where they stood, forever frozen in apathy. In that too there were exceptions. People who had purpose, be It ever so dark lasted longer than those who were simply afraid. Those who blazed with the power of their desires, they lasted the longest, and the woman infront of him had laster longer than any other denizen in this place, himself excepted.

Of course since he was a God, the rules were very different for him. He returned his attention to the conversation as the woman had just finished explaining her plan to the former king of the Underworld. "Do not tell me you haven't still got power Hades, for we both know it would be a lie."

The ancient God with the burning hair let his mouth form into a lazy grin. "Oh I didn't say anything of the sort. Besides, it might be fun to see you try to take over the world again. I mean, your last effort didn't work out too well." The shot went home, and the woman's eyes narrowed dangerously. For Hades it was almost like a game, and what point was the game without high stakes. She was one of the few beings in this world whom he might think of as close to his equal, in brains if not in actual power.

She might be powerful, but he was a God after all. Even now, after centuries of being stuck in this limbo between worlds, he still had more power than any other denizen here. It just wasn't enough to escape as long as Hercules was watching, and the meddling do-gooder seemed to always be watching. So Hades contented himself with petty amusements aimed at those who couldn't effectively fight back, because they lacked the strength, or in some cases the will, or because they needed something from him.

It wasn't a great way to while away the millennia, but it was sufficient.

"It was," the woman said, then paused. An uncharacteristic action, noted Hades. She had been supremely confident in her plan. Of course this wasn't the first plan she had been supremely confident in. He'd seen others come unravelled in the endless centuries they'd been trapped here. "It was unwise of me to try and achieve my goals through mortal methods. I intend to be more direct this time."

"More direct?" he asked.

"I shall break through to the mortal world in the old castle. I shall find and recover the source of my power, and then the world will tremble."

It was a good speech, he admitted to himself, and it was quite obvious she believed it too. He wondered if she had a reason for that confidence given that she was down here, and had already failed several times. Still, he'd agreed to give her his opinions, and so he would.

"And you know that she had children right? And that those children had children and so on. Mortals," he said with a snort. "Obsessesed with one thing and one thing only. You're going to have to deal with those descendants. If they figure out who you are, and who they're descended from, they'll try and stop you. They won't be able to help themselves, it runs in the family, all the way back to Ancient Greece."

"Show them to me," came the command.

Hades shrugged, and waved a hand. Even here and with as little power as remained to him, being able to view mortals was a fairly trivial use of his powers. The first image to appear was that of a wooden sailing ship. Its masts ballooning out under the pressure of the wind and with the royal symbol of the Kingdom of Arendelle flying on the pennant. The image quickly zoomed closer and focussed on a young woman, in her late teens who was standing near the bow, eyes closed and a huge smile on her face as the spray came up and left her face drenched. She was wearing a dark green dress, which offset her reddish hair and the small tiara she wore. She turned to the large blonde man standing behind her and said something which made him laugh, or maybe it was the drenched face and wet hair that made him laugh. It didn't really matter.

Neither of the beings watching could hear what it was that she said as Hades ability to view the world was limited to sight only. It was a limitation he'd learned to live with in the many, many centuries since his exile. He'd never known why that limitation existed since he couldn't affect anything on the other side of one of his windows anyway, and at least with sound it might have provided some respite from the boredom of this place.

"Princess Anna of Arendelle," Hades pronounced. "And the boy she likes, a Sami named Kristoff. If you're looking for weaknesses, then he's probably it."

A second window appeared besides the first one, this one showing a cabin on a ship. It was a lavishly appointed cabin with solid oak furniture and massive windows looking out over the ocean at the rear of the ship. Sunlight streamed in through the massive windows, illuminating the cabin's occupants in golden light. The woman raised an elegant eyebrow towards Hades.

"Yes, they're on the same ship."

Sitting at the massive desk in the image was of another young woman, maybe a few years older than Anna with hair so blonde it almost seemed white, and a dress made of whites and greens. "Her sister, Queen Elsa of Arendelle," Hades provided by way of explanation. His companion for the moment stepped towards the gap in reality through which they were viewing the ship and gazed intently at the person sitting behind the desk. The young royal appeared to be doing paperwork while listening to a man in the uniform of an official speak. She would occasionally raise her head and respond or ask something before returning to her work.

"There is something, intense about this girl" the woman said after observing silently for a few minutes. "Even through this window I can sense power on that ship, cold and sharp and bright. She is one of the Powers that I need to kill, Ice perhaps?" There was an ugly tone in the woman's voice when she spoke of killing a young girl for personal gain. Hades didn't mind either way, since mortals tended to die pretty quickly and easily anyway. Normally he was playing a game far too big to worry about the odd mortal anyway.

"Who can tell these days. I know one of them has the power of ice, and I'd say the blonde in the white dress is probably your best bet," Hades shrugged through. "Could be either of them. You know that you're going to have to face the Sun, the Snow and the Spirit if you want to win, so does it really matter?"

"Only insofar it informs my tactics for dealing with each. One must know ones enemies in order to bring them to heel."

A third window opened, showing a third young woman sitting on a balcony, one leg dangling off it as she enjoyed the morning sun, her head leaning back against a pillar and her eyes closed. She was as short haired brunette to match Elsa's blonde and Anna's reddish hair. Standing next to her, leaning on the balcony was a young man with mischievous eyes and a bright smile who was gesturing animatedly towards something in the distance.

"Our final contestant, Princess Rapunzel of Corona. Recently returned to her parents after having been missing for her entire life. Gothel was one of yours I believe?"

The woman snorted angrily. "I had so long to work with Gothel, but she was canny enough. Even after centuries she was never willing to fully listen to the voice in her ear. She was a small woman, with small ambitions. All she wanted was to live forever and be left alone. She desired power nor control over anything else."

"So unlike you my dear," Hades said with a grin. "Fun fact, the pair from Arendelle are Rapunzel's cousins, but Elsa's coronation was the first time they'd seen each other since they were all children. "

"Rapunzel, Elsa, Anna," the woman made their names a curse. "I will need all the power you can give me and I will need servants and allies in the mortal realms to deal with them."

"Done and done," Hades said with a vicious grin. "So what's the plan Mallie. Can I call you Mallie?"

The glare that was sent his way should by all rights have incinerated him. Maleficent rose to her full height, staff in hand and even Hades had to admit that she cut an impressive figure, even here centuries after her defeat at the hands of a prince questing for his sleeping love. The horns on her head-dress gave her the vaguely draconic look. Appropriate, given that she had once transformed herself into a dragon in order to kill a prince.

Of course her vendetta against Aurora and all her descendants had been spectacularly unsuccessful. Mostly that was due to the fact that her body's death at the hands of Aurora's prince had cost her a huge chunk of her powers. In turn it meant she had been reduced to trying to influence people to do evil to the lineage of the princess for her while her spirit was stuck in limbo. Never quite moving on, never quite being at peace. From this dark place she could still affect the mortal world in minor ways. A whisper in the ear, a bad dream that was ill remembered the next morning, or irrational spurts of anger and rage that happened all throughout a person's lifetime had turned those self-same people from mere petty evil into genuine monsters in their own right. Evil stepmothers, insane churchmen and others. All had heard Maleficent's whispers and had acted.

None had succeeded, which was why she was now trying to gather the power to break out into the world once again. To succeed where her many minions, both knowing and not, had failed. To once again stretch forth her dark hand and have her shadow take sway. It was ambitious and bold, and worthy of a queen of darkness.

"You will call me Queen Maleficent," she proclaimed. "And as for those children, they will learn that my shadow is to be feared. When I have executed my plan, I will have scoured Corona from the maps of this world, Arendelle will lie in ruins, and the descendants of Aurora will dead at my feet."

Her lips pulled back in what only the very charitable might have called a smile as she glared at the three images of those she had named as her enemies.

Hades leaned back on the rock he'd been using as a chair, a smile on his face. "Long live the Queen!"

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 1: Communication is key

Fun fact: The original draft for this story was very very dark. In fact the phrase 'grimdark' might well apply as it dealt with the weight of rulership, the inevitable problems of royal/commoner relationships, the anxiety and depression of spending a life-time locked away, Anna's stepford smiler tendencies being a result of her own isolation, and the realistic political fallout of the events of Frozen in Europe of the day.

But about halfway through writing, I decided I would actually drive myself to depression writing such a dark story when what I wanted was to write a high-fantasy adventure. So I chucked everything I wrote, and started over, some of the darker stuff remains, because they are important themes for the characters, but this is a high fantasy story based on a Disney movie, not a dark and gritty political tragedy. There's other, better writers for that.

Cumulo-Dingus: Thank you.

Daddyscowgirl94: I'm not going to be able to include every Disney Princess, but if the idea in my head works, I will include most of them.

**Chapter one: Communication is key.**

Elsa looked up from her papers as someone knocked on the door, and Kristoff was shown in by her Seneschal. She chewed her lip for a second while she considered just how many people were in a royal entourage, before banishing the thought from her head. Her Seneschal at least had more reason to be here than most, but acting as a major-domo or a door guard was a bit beneath his usual station. Dragging her mind back to the present, she focussed on the man walking across the room. She might not strictly have needed one hundred percent of her attention for this conversation, but she intended to devote that much attention to it nonetheless.

"_After all,_" she thought to herself. _"He is Anna's what? boyfriend? paramour? beaux?_" The thought threatened to make her smile and she banished that from her mind as well.

"Kristoff, thank you for coming," she said cordially. He seemed wary as he sat down in the chair she indicated.

"Not a problem Queen Elsa, it's a small ship and as fascinating as it is to be on one, I could use the distraction. Besides, I kind of got the impression this wasn't an optional conversation."

Elsa leaned back as his tone registered. It was a good deal less polite than she was used to from, well anyone really. However she knew a fair bit about the Sami in general, and about this particular one from Anna. Fishers, fur trappers and reindeer herders traditionally. Once upon a time the Sami were also the ones deeply involved in the ice-harvesting business for Arendelle, but like so many other things, the royal family's decision to close the gates had affected their livelihood.

Tough, independent and big believers in being able to manage by themselves, Kristoff appeared to be a shining example of his people. She didn't begrudge him his grumpiness as such, but she did want to know what if anything he meant by it, perhaps she might even be able to have a little harmless fun here.

"Have I done anything to upset you Kristoff?" she asked, her own expression and tone growing somewhat sharper. At a guess, she imagined he was expecting the parent talk from Anna's big sister. After all, she was the Queen and all joking aside, she did have what amounted to veto-rights on any relationship of any junior royal. Normally amongst royalty the need for political marriages meant that even someone who wasn't heir to the throne wouldn't have much say in whom they married.

"Not yet, but I've kind of been expecting this conversation." Kristoff looked acutely uncomfortable sitting in the chair, and Elsa was trying hard not to smile.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, isn't this where you tell me that I'm not good enough for Anna. I'm not a prince, I'm not wealthy. I get it okay, I'm not the right person to be dating a princess."

For a moment Elsa said nothing, the bitterness in Kristoff's voice coming as a bit of a surprise, even as she allowed her mind to race. On the face of it, his accusation was absurd as she had in no way objected to their budding entanglement. As she thought more about it, his comments began to make some sense. His whirlwind romance with Anna, fuelled primarily by shared adventure and excitement, and at least two near death experiences.

But those experiences, and the emotional highs they generated would have worn off within a few days, maybe a few weeks tops, and then reality would have set back in. Elsa considered what reality looked like for an ice-harvester suddenly thrust into the day to day business of dating a princess of a small but prosperous nation like Arendelle.

For all of the fact that it only had a single major city, it was a port city and the territory that fell under its banner contained all manner of mineral deposits that were valuable. Arendelle almost didn't have a truly poor class, although there were undoubtedly people who worked harder and earned less than others, most people had a fairly good standard of living.

The royal family, being herself and Anna, would look very daunting from the perspective of an ice-harvester with a single sled to his name, and especially so since the gates had been closed for so long that people had forgotten what the royals had, what they were worth. Compared to even the affluent houses in Arendelle, the palace was an indicator of wealth that couldn't be ignored, and Kristoff had been a regular visitor there for almost two months.

She began to understand his concern. Of course he was wrong, but that didn't mean she couldn't use this as an opportunity to drive the point home. "No, you're not." She finally said, and had the satisfaction of seeing his eyes narrow in anger.

"Excuse me?" he asked, his voice taut with suppressed emotion.

"You're quite right Kristoff," Elsa agreed easily, leaning back in the heavy chair of the captains office. He had granted her the use of it during the voyage, and it really was the best place in the ship to do actual paperwork, especially with the glorious bay windows behind her. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she locked gazes with Kristoff. "You are not in any way, shape or form what I would have picked for Anna."

"There's a shock, I should have guessed when Anna said you made up some joke title for me."

That caught Elsa by surprise. She'd expected something more about his economic status. That at least she would have understood given the stigma of romance across economic and social boundaries. Nobility didn't as a rule date commoner. "I'm sorry, what?" she finally asked.

"Arendelle's royal Ice master and deliverer," he recited in a sing-song, followed by a magnificent snort. "I mean that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, and I've heard some pretty dumb things."

"That wasn't a joke Kristoff." Elsa was starting to feel a bit annoyed herself now. The title had been quite real, even if her motives had included giving Kristoff a legitimate reason to frequently visit the palace. She took a deep breath to calm herself down, and thought of Anna. A burst of love went through her, and she could almost feel the chill that had begun to descend on the room lifting.

Even now, after several months of practice, she had imperfect control over her abilities when she was emotionally compromised. Normally she could control things just fine, but when she was angry or upset, things still tended to ice over. Fortunately for her, it only took a brief thought of her sister, who had demonstrated her love in a way that left no doubt, to calm her powers down.

"Sure it wasn't," he responded, when Elsa remained quiet he looked at her for a long moment, then straightened up. "Wait you're not kidding are you?" he asked, surprise evident on his face and in his voice.

"Not in the slightest." If there was no frost in the room, then Elsa's voice was plenty chill enough, and Kristoff suddenly realised that he had come to this meeting with at least one serious misapprehension. Elsa for her part was trying hard not to burst out laughing at the suddenly forlorn expression on his face. If being bad was always this much fun, she might have to reconsider being a good girl.

"Why on Earth would you need an Ice master, you can make it with your bare hands," He exclaimed. "I've seen the Ice palace you raised on North Mountain. If I spend a lifetime learning my craft, I couldn't build anything even remotely like that, and you did it in a night."

She didn't bother to correct him that it hadn't taken even remotely that long. "Yes I can, but think it through. I have no idea whether the Ice I create is safe for human consumption, what's more I have other duties and responsibilities to attend to than just sitting there producing ice all day for commercial use. When I was a child, there were entire teams of ice harvesters that worked on behalf of the royal family. Now that the gates are open again, it's a tradition that's worth revisiting."

"Uhm, I kind of thought… well, It doesn't matter," he trailed off, suddenly unsure of what he was saying. This conversation had obviously not gone the way he had expected, and now he was

"No, by all means, speak your mind. You've dug the hole this deep, you might as well keep digging."

"I thought you might have made the position as a way of giving me a legitimate reason to come into Arendelle," he paused for a moment. "You know, to see Anna."

Elsa couldn't help herself, she did burst out laughing. It was a bright, sharp laughter that echoed of the wooden walls and lasted long enough that Kristoff went from bewilderment back to annoyance, but Elsa got herself under control before he got genuinely upset and waved a hand. "That's exactly why I did it. It wasn't the only reason mind you, but then father always said to never do one thing when you can do two at once."

"Then what did you want to see me about?" the young man asked, now completely lost.

"Please Kristoff. I owe you an apology, as I let my questionable sense of humour get the better of me. I wanted to see you because when we get to Corona, I have something I need you to do, and I wanted to discuss it before we got there. The truth of it regarding you and Anna is, why on earth would I, of all people, know what makes for good boyfriend material?"

Kristoff looked at her, eyes wide and was about to say something when Elsa raised a hand.

"Don't answer that, it was rhetorical anyway." She waved her hand and smiled at Kristoff. "I only have one question for you, and one royal command. Are you a loyal citizen of Arendelle and loyal to the crown, Kristoff?"

"Of course I am," he said, a mildly offended tone in his voice.

"You're not what I would have picked, but you are quite obviously what Anna picked, and that's good enough for me. My command is this," Elsa continued easily. "Make my sister happy. Make it so that every time she looks at you I see her eyes light up, make it so that every time we sit down for a meal, the first twenty minutes are her talking about how amazing all the things you've shown her are. Anna hasn't had enough laughter and goodness in her life. Give her that, and you'll have my unwavering support. "

Kristoff had begun to smile at her statement and for a brief moment the two of them were in perfect accord. "I can do that, Queen Elsa."

"Please Kristoff, in private at least, call me Elsa."

* * *

"You are a horrible person," Anna declared not fifteen minutes later as she stomped into the captains day cabin where Elsa was just sitting down for a light brunch. The Queen was in the middle of spreading some paté onto a slice of bread and didn't even look up at her sister while she did so.

"Ah, Anna, I was about to come find you and see if you wanted to share lunch with me. Please, have a seat."

The princess for her part ignored her sister with the same magnificent indifference as Elsa had just shown and scowled down at her. "You really made him worry, and for nothing. I bet he thought you were going to have him thrown overboard or something, or worse, tell him that we couldn't be together."

"Please Anna," Elsa said as she finally looked up, a mild look on her face. "I would never waste a good strong pair of arms by having someone thrown overboard. We can always use more deck-scrubbers."

"Oh I see, you just want to sit there in a nice comfy chair and watch my boyfriend sweat like he's your personal servant, don't you. Should I have him wear a costume?"

The two sisters stared at each other for a long moment before almost in unison starting to laugh. Anna and Elsa laughed in very different ways. Anna was more of a giggler when all was said and done, her bubbly personality leading to short intense bursts of hilarity. Elsa by contrast hadn't had very much reason to laugh during her life, but when she did it was loud and clear.

"Oh Anna," Elsa finally managed to gasp out. "My personal servant and in costume no less? That was inspired."

"How about you," the younger sister responded as she sat down and grabbed a few slices of bread. "is 'deck-scrubber' even a thing or did you just make that up on the spot?"

"Oh no, I've seen people scrub the deck. Don't know if that's their official title though."

A comfortable silence fell between them, and Anna really looked at her sister for the first time since they'd boarded the ship, the dramatically named Thunderchild, in order to sail to Corona to celebrate the third anniversary of the marriage of their cousin Rapunzel.

Things had been better between them since the Coronation, they could hardly have been worse after all. She and Elsa had spent a lot of time talking to each other about their lives, their fears and concerns, and about building bridges with each other. Anna had even taken the lead in talking to Elsa about Kristoff and how to woo him and an entirely inappropriate giggle threatened to erupt from her throat. Elsa had made it quite, almost graphically clear she did not want to talk about that topic.

"We should be arriving in Corona sometime in the morning if the winds hold out." Anna broke the silence after they'd both had some food. It wasn't exactly the fare either of them were used to, but since they were on a ship, neither was inclined to fuss about the lack of varied food. It would hardly be fair for them to eat like, well like royalty when the sailors were eating the basics. She still wondered where Elsa had found Paté though.

"I'm glad you've had a chance to spend time up on deck," Elsa said. "In fact, if I can get just a few more bits and pieces done I'll be up to join you."

"Good," Anna answered, then hesitated for a second. "Elsa, are you okay?"

"Of course I am," she responded with surprise. "Why do you ask?"

"Kristoff…." Anna began, then took a deep breath. "He seemed to think you sounded off when you mentioned not having any real idea what makes a good boyfriend. "

"Off?" Elsa queried.

"His words," she clarified. "I mean of course they're his words because he told me, but those are the exact words he used."

"And he thought to mention this feeling to you?" There was a noticeable chill in Elsa's voice now, although Anna didn't think it was directed at her, or even at Kristoff really. It was more a distaste with life itself, she thought. "I can see his meddling is going to be a constant source of delight."

"Elsa, if you don't want to talk about it, I'll respect that. Especially if it's Royal business," Anna explained, the lack of sureness in her voice unusual to Elsa's ears. If there was one thing Anna had always possessed in spades, it was confidence in her ability to talk. Even with Elsa falling apart around her, and a storm blowing in her face during her visit to the Ice Palace, she had never wavered. It was unnerving.

"But having said that, please don't shut me out unless you really have to. I'll help if I can, or just listen if that's what you need. There is nothing in the world more important to me right now than being there for you."

If there was ever a time in her life Elsa wanted Anna to stop, this would have been the time, but one look at her eyes, guileless, open and worried chased that thought out of her head. She tried to muster some resistance to the implacable force of nature that was Anna's puppy-dog eyes and found herself helpless before their green depths and she sighed.

"It's really not something you can help with," Elsa finally said and Anna scooted forward, giving her sister one hundred percent of her attention. "When I was twelve, or thirteen perhaps, I was having real trouble keeping my powers quiet. Hormones I suppose, but I couldn't conceal it, and father tried to reach out to me. I froze his hand in a flash."

Her mind cast back to that day, her father reaching out to grasp her hand, and then snatching it back when the ice blossomed instantly covering his hand in a thick sheaf of frozen pain. Her father staggering back while her mother cried out and the two of them rushing off for the medic. Herself, left sobbing in her room, cradling her knees and wishing nothing more than to be rid of this curse.

Back in the present Elsa's voice had taken on a certain quality as she explained, toneless and soft as if trying desperately not to feel anything while reciting the events. "His hand took weeks to heal, and I hadn't even realised what had happened until after it was too late. I was so scared that if he'd tried to reach out to me in any other way, a hug for instance, I would have frozen him solid," she raised her eyes to Anna. "Like I did you."

"Oh Elsa," Anna said, her eyes beginning to look a bit moist, but the older girl kept talking. Having started, she now needed to get it out.

"The next time he came to visit, I had to beg him, _beg him_ Anna, to stay away from me," Elsa's eyes were beginning to look a bit watery at this point as well. Her next line was so soft, that had Anna not been listening so hard, she would have missed it. "And he did."

A single tear rolled down Elsa's cheek. "And that was the last time I willingly touched another person until you unfroze on the Fjord." Elsa got up and walked to the windows facing the rear of the ship, staring out at the sea as if looking for something calming. It didn't take more than a moment for Anna to get up, come round the table and wrap her arms around her sister.

"And the truly damning is," Elsa whispered. "That even now actual contact from anyone else makes me physically flinch if I'm not prepared for it. I can't stand to have people other than you touch me for the simple reason that in a place of deep seated reactions I'm still terrified I'm going to hurt someone." She turned around, seizing Anna's wrists in a gentle grip.

"How could I ever meet someone, let alone do the other things required of me," Anna noticed the almost luminescent blush that came to Elsa's face when she said that, but chose to ignore it. Plenty of time later to embarrass her sister. "When I can't even shake hands with a stranger?"

Anna reached out a hand and lightly brushed some hair out of Elsa's face. "I honestly don't know how we're going to fix it."

"I understand," Elsa responded. "It's-"

She didn't get any further because Anna put a finger on her lips, silencing her. "I don't know how we're going to fix it," she repeated. "But I promise you I'll think about it, because a problem this big can't be solved in three seconds. I'll think about it, and so will you, and we'll figure it out together. Just because I don't have a totally amazing insight right this second, doesn't mean there isn't an answer. It just means we need to get creative."

Elsa gave her a slightly watery smile and wiped her face dry. "Thank you Anna. Sometimes I wonder which one of us is the older sister."

Anna waved it off. "Oh you, definitely," she smirked. "I mean, you've been in this old cabin so long, I think you're starting to look older."

"Anna!"

"No seriously. I think the oldness in the wood is seeping into you. Your hair is looking white rather than just blonde, and all the hunching," Anna said while eying Elsa with a critical eye. Walking over she patter her sister on the shoulder in as patronising a manner as she could.

"Do you need me to get you a walking stick, or a rocker? Oh, I know, we can get them to add wrinkles to your official portrait back home," Anna exclaimed brightly and Elsa burst out laughing despite herself.

"There you go," Anna said. "Everything is better with a bit more laughter. Come on up to the deck, enjoy the rest of the trip."

Elsa smiled and nodded at her sisters urging, only giving the paperwork on her desk one last glance before following her up onto the deck.

* * *

"The Library again?" Eugene asked with a smile as Rapunzel dragged him through the corridors of the castle at a run. "I mean, it's not as if we can't find better things to do than read right?" He gave her a look that once upon a time had confused her enough to drop him on his face. Of course in the intervening three years they had lived and loved and got married, and Rapunzel knew all about the infamous smoulder of Flynn Rider.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel exclaimed with a gurgle of laughter. "Nothing naughty until tonight. Besides I have a surprise planned for you every night until our anniversary." She slid to a stop in front of the library door and pulled him close for a long and decidedly naughty kiss. "You're going to like this one."

Eugene was about to respond, probably with an inarticulate sound of awesomeness, when she threw open the library door and marched in. "But first research. Elsa and Anna will be here in a few days and I want to show them all the great things about Corona, but first I have to know all the great things about Corona. I mean I know about the tower and the festival and the Snuggly Duckling and the dam and-"

This time it was Eugene bringing her to a stop with a kiss. He did love Rapunzel, but she had a tendency to let her mouth run away with her. She'd had that for as long as he'd known her. "Okay love, so we'll find ten amazing things for them to see and do, but you know they'll be just as happy to spend the time at the castle with us right?"

Their visit to Arendelle for Elsa's coronation had been the first time Rapunzel had seen her cousins, in forever. She had been kidnapped by Gothel before Elsa had been born, and in the aftermath of her return there had been so many other things that needed attention, that family in distant Arendelle just hadn't been a priority.

Then of course her aunt and uncle had died on the voyage to Corona for their wedding, and both kingdoms had gone into mourning. It didn't seem possible but three years had passed very quickly and they'd received an invite to Elsa's coronation, and she had convinced her parents to let Eugene and herself go to represent Corona and to reconnect with her cousin.

It hadn't gone well. Not at first in any case. Once the whole issue with Elsa and her powers had been sorted out, the rest of the trip had been fine. Rapunzel had always intended to sit down and compare notes with Elsa, but had never quite found the time. She almost smiled at the thought, bad things always seemed to happen when Corona and Arendelle interacted directly. Not this time though, she thought to herself. This time, things were going to be just fine.

For all the catching up they'd managed to get done, they'd only hit the real highlights, the kidnapping and rescue of Rapunzel, the flight of Elsa and her recovery afterwards. They'd only planned to be there for a week and most of that was spent running around Arendelle, helping where they could and staying out of the way when necessary. They had only barely seen Elsa and Anna afterwards, due to the demands of Royal Duty, and the fact that Anna had almost immediately disappeared again. When asked Elsa had just muttered something about trolls and adoption and changed the topic.

This time would be different, not least because they were coming to Corona for almost a full month. Elsa and Anna would visit, fun would be had and they would visit all the really neat spots in and around Corona so that her cousins would have an amazing trip. Nothing would go wrong this time.

Had Eugene been aware of her thoughts, he might have cautioned Rapunzel against unbridled optimism. It might not have helped, but he probably would have at least warned her to knock on wood or something. Unlike his beloved wife, he knew the power of tempting fate the way only a scoundrel could. The crime that was 'perfect', the score that was 'too easy' and his personal favourite, 'Relax, what could possibly go wrong?' Those were phrases to chill the heart of any decent thief and con-artist. No doubt he would have explained it in great detail to the brunette at his side, had he been aware of her thoughts.

Instead he just gave his wife a hearty sigh, and reached for a book containing a map of Corona, while Rapunzel went for a book on historical sites and locations in and around the country, and together they went to work.

* * *

Hans paced. Nine steps forward, pivot and turn, nine steps back, pivot and turn and repeat. It wasn't as if he had anything else to do at the moment, or for that matter at any time since his humiliation. He had been stuck in this room for months now, and sure the servants were always willing to provide him with new books from the library, but he still had altogether too much time to pace. He knew the dimensions of this room like the back of his hand. He knew how many tiles there were on the floor, and how many swirls there were in the paint on the ceiling. He could even have told you how many spiders were lurking In the corners and where every scratch was on the furniture.

For a man used to going where he wanted, it was maddening and there had been days he feared for his sanity, but as the guards kept reminding him whenever the servants came by, he was not allowed out. The letter that had accompanied him back to his brothers, especially the one addressed to King Kurt Osterman, his eldest brother and monarch had been scathing.

It went into detail about his attempt to commit regicide on the Queen of Arendelle, how he had manipulated the Queen's younger sister in order to arrange her death as well, and in retrospect the big mistake he had made, was that if he had just smothered Anna instead of allowing her to die naturally, or as naturally as someone inflicted with a magical freezing curse could, then he might just have won.

Instead Anna had survived, and managed to bring Elsa back to her senses and seal his fate with her testimony. Unfortunately with her entire regency council and even the Duke of Wessleton backing her up, or at least being willing to confirm he lied about her death and the marriage vows, he had been left in a completely untenable position.

King Osterman of the Southern Isles had ordered his own brother imprisoned awaiting trial for his actions, and if by some miracle Hans survived the trial, the young prince had no doubt he would wither away in a cell much less comfortable than the small, but lavishly appointed private quarters he was currently in.

He stopped pacing, and he felt the dangerous pull of his fury bubbling just under the surface. All his life he'd lived with the anger that came with the way he was treated. His older brothers had treated him like dirt, his parents like he was an afterthought and it enraged him. Was he not a Prince of the Southern Isles? Did that not command respect?

No, even as a Prince he was disrespected because his many brothers were already public figures long before he became old enough to make his mark. He was a Prince, but one that literally had no place in either the succession, or in public life and that had angered him. He was smart enough to not show that anger to anyone though, and to realise that even if his brothers died from twelve completely unrelated accidents that could in no way be traced back to Hans, then he would inherit a throne under a dark cloud, for no one would believe he was innocent.

So he had left, on what was publicly billed as a 'good will tour' of the islands and port nations around the area, and he had gone looking for an eligible princess. He'd hoped to find one in Corona, but had been disappointed. The recently returned princess had come with her very own commoner fiancé by the time he arrived, and he had swiftly moved on once he discovered that the fiancé had been instrumental in her return. In a sense he admired Eugene Fitzherbert, because a rescue romance was a classic way to woo a princess.

Still, he was pragmatic, and rather than arrange an accident for Eugene, then having to deal with a Princess in mourning and then having to win her over, he had Instead followed a trail of rumours and breadcrumbs to Arendelle, where a new Queen was to be crowned, and it galled him that he had come so close before it all fell apart. He still had no idea how Anna had escaped the castle, but her 'act of true love' had spelled the end of his ambitions, and he had been far too publicly involved in the situation to be able to slink back into the shadows and find another throne elsewhere.

"Would you like to try again?" a soft, yet commanding female voice whispered in his ear, and Hans whirled around in shock, looking for the source of the voice.

"Where are you?" he demanded of the empty room and was rewarded with a dark chuckle even as the light in the room began to fade. For a moment he thought he was seeing things, but the room was definitely growing darker, and all around him an oppressive presence was making itself felt. He could still see the torches that lit the room blazing away, but they seemed hazy and indistinct in this gathering mid-day gloom.

"Tell me Hans of the Southern Isles, if I offered you everything your dark heart desires, would you serve me?" the seductive voice murmured. "I can offer you power. I can offer you prestige. I can offer you vengeance against Anna of Arendelle. " The voice twisted, turning harsh with that sentiment and despite concern over what was happening, Hans liked the image that came forcibly to mind.

The princess, at his feet, begging for her life or that of her sister. Anna, eyes wide having to acknowledge that Hans was the victor, and she the vanquished. The Princess and Queen in chains, as he sat on the throne and ordered their deaths. Himself waving out over the palace of Arendelle at a grateful and loving populace who acknowledge him for the wise and respected ruler that he was.

He shook his head as the images passed from his mind. Sure he was a pragmatic man, who would do whatever was necessary to achieve his goals, but this was taking a whole new step. Whatever this thing was that was offering him power wouldn't be doing it solely for Hans' benefit. Of course, he could accept the power, and later seek to rid himself of the unknown benefactor.

"And how do I know I can trust you?" Hans queried. He felt vaguely stupid talking to thin air, and if the guards outside heard him then they might raise some unfortunate questions. Still, he was willing to put up with feeling stupid if it got him what he want. After all, had he not pretended to be quirky and mildly insane in order to get close to Anna? If he could put up with running around Arendelle while singing out loud and pretending to care, he could look a little stupid in what amounted to a cell in castle Osterman.

"You don't of course," the voice responded. "But you're not in a position to bargain hard either. I offer my help, my power and I assure you that my goals and yours are not in competition." Hans had no way of knowing if that was true, and he saw the loophole in the wording almost immediately.

It was still a better offer than any other he had, and he briefly considered his options if he turned down the offer of power. He would be tried, that was certain. His brothers would want to protest their own innocence as vehemently as they could, and what better way than to put the real culprit on trial. He had few allies in the Kingdom and none that could be counted upon to break him out of prison now, when he was merely accused, let alone if he was convicted.

Perhaps as importantly, he doubted his brother the King would try him in absentia. For other crimes, perhaps, but not for an attack against a fellow ruler and head of state. It was too important to establish his innocence as a monarch, that he in no way had planned, knew of or condoned an attack against a neighbouring Queen because failure to convince people so could easily lead to war. So if he did escape, then he would only have to succeed in claiming Arendelle, or some other nation, and he would likely find the charges against him dropped here in the Southern Isles.

For who would accuse a man who claimed a kingdom by right of conquest of regicide? And even if someone did, how could they possibly hope to have it enforced against a kingdom. Certainly he would have to tread carefully around his new subjects, but propaganda wouldn't be hard to come by. Stories of the Snow Queen of Arendelle were already being told according to what little gossip he had heard while incarcerated.

"Yes," Hans found himself murmuring. It was a risk, a huge risk to take the help of an unknown spirit with motivations that probably had nothing to do with his own. However, to win the game you had to first be in the game. Hans could achieve exactly nothing while locked in this room and at least if he was out he could influence events, maybe even turn the tables on his mysterious benefactor. "I do want that, and I'll serve you, contingent on you holding up your end of the bargain."

"Good," the voice sounded. "Because I have need of a mortal ally to retrieve a staff for me. In exchange, I will give you the power to escape your confinement here, and gain your revenge."

A needle appeared in the darkness in front of him, and despite his phenomenal self-control he flinched. Hans did not like magic, even less so since Arendelle.

"All I need is a drop of blood in order to ride along in your body, and the world will tremble at our feet."

Hans looked at the needle, and slowly took off the glove of his left hand. Blood magic was another step into darkness. Even compared to Elsa and her ice magic, this was dangerous. Still, what choice did he have. "And your name? I'll have that at least before I make any bargains."

"Maleficent," the voice hissed, and Hans instinctively heard the evil in the name.

"Very well Maleficent. As long as you give me my revenge, I'll help you find your staff," and he reached towards the needle and brought his thumb down on it.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 2: Many Meetings

Fun Fact: As of this writing, Frozen is officially the most successful first run animated movie in cinema history. Not just Disney, but ever, as it's cinema taking have exceeded Finding Nemo.

Hawkshelatou1: Glad you enjoyed it so far.

**Chapter two: Many Meetings**

* * *

Royal protocol in the kingdom of Corona was not the most ironclad in the history of mankind. It didn't proscribe harsh penalties for commoners who used the incorrect form of address when speaking to either royalty or nobility, and the King's once a month public grievances sessions were often raucous affairs with anyone who had any issues they wanted arbitrated by the King free to come to the palace and take a place in line. On at least one occasion a pie had been thrown. No one had been arrested, and the king had declared it delicious.

With all that relaxed attitude towards these things, one might be forgiven the assumption that the Coronan Navy had a similar attitude, but they were far more spit and polish than most of the Kingdom. This most likely has its roots in the fact that the Navy was the Kingdom's senior service. Corona was after all founded by a naval officer who saw the Island that would house the later Royal Families castle and decided to claim it.

That Naval officer had been known for three things during his service. The first being that he was an avid drinker, the second that he was a teller of tall tales, and the third that he claimed to be the descendant of a Princess of the Americas, who had married an Englishman. Of course given the first and second points, the veracity of the third was in question. Nonetheless, and for all his known issues, he had been a genuine enthusiast when it came to the integrity and discipline of the navy that would one day serve the royal house of Corona, and that dedication had remained and been strengthened throughout the centuries.

So the arrival of the _ANS Thunderchild_, carrying both the Queen Regnant and the Heir Presumptive of Arendelle was rather a big deal. In fact it was the most senior royal visit since the attempt of the Queen's parents to visit three years earlier, and everyone remembered the tragedy of their ship being lost at sea. Across the length and breadth of both the officer corps and the enlisted ranks, everyone was intending to make this as spectacular an arrival as possible. The Navy had its people drilling for days on the proper forms and movements to honour the arrival of such august guests, and Admiral Maximillian Smythe, was proud of how his men had risen to the challenge.

Then Rapunzel had barely waited for Anna, Elsa and Kristoff to walk down the ramp before abandoning the Royal procession and running straight for them to envelope Anna in a huge hug.

So much for protocol.

"Anna," the Coronan princess nearly shrieked even as the well-oiled procession behind her slithered to a halt as she ruined the careful choreography planned for the day. "It's so good to see you again."

As the two young women hugged, Elsa raised a single eyebrow at the admiral standing a dozen feet behind her, and gave him a sympathetic look as he sighed.

This was going to be a long visit.

* * *

Their arrival in Corona had gone of almost perfectly, the two of them being welcomed by a huge segment of the population and it was interesting for Elsa to see the genuine joy the Coronans took in their princess, and in their visitors. In point of fact, it had come as a bit of a shock just how enthusiastic the people had been for the arrival of the foreign royals. The fact that the King and Queen were well loved, and that Rapunzel had won the hearts and minds of her people no doubt helped tremendously.

In most kingdoms it was unlikely that the heir to the throne would be allowed to roam unescorted and unguarded the way Rapunzel did, but the Princess appeared to be a law unto herself. It no doubt had its roots in the way she'd been essentially by herself most of her life, but the Queen of Arendelle wondered to herself if she'd be as willing as King James was to allow a child of hers to plan, organise and then attend a party with a substantial portion of the general populous.

The fact that Rapunzel had used their arrival as an excuse to hold parties for the people during the day, to be matched with the formal ball for the various visiting dignitaries at night was a stroke of genius though, as it allowed the regular people to feel like their princess was one of them, and the dignitaries to do so as well. Of the two, Elsa thought she probably would have liked the former more, but she had elected not to go to it, and the reason for that passed before her eyes as she looked out over the ballroom of the Palace of the Sun.

The Ballroom was filled with people, and through it all flitted Anna and Kristoff, the latter looking a little harried. Anna however had truly come into her own in places like this Elsa realised with a genuine smile as she watched her younger sister effortlessly glide from grouping to grouping, engaging people in conversation and providing energy and zest to what could otherwise have been a somewhat dull affair. Her sister had also gone to the street party with Rapunzel, and Elsa had no idea how Anna still had energy left after the stories she'd heard about music and dancing out there.

Elsa was definitely not the social butterfly her sister was. For certain she was always polite and kind when addressed, she had learned that much about being a Queen, but unlike Anna whose title as Princess often seemed an afterthought, people could never quite forget that she was the one in charge. There was a distance between Elsa and her own subjects, and that distance was so much greater with foreigners. Somehow though, Anna managed to be one of the people as well as a Princess, and that made her the ideal person for things like this ball, and like the party earlier in the day.

"_Besides, this was all part of my plan anyway_," Elsa thought to herself. It had occurred to Elsa shortly after her return from North Mountain that her own issues meant that it would be wise to begin presenting Anna and by extension Kristoff to the world as the face of Arendelle royalty. She herself would continue to rule Arendelle, but bit by bit, through trade trips, royal occasions and state visits, she intended to shape the view of the world to think of her sister as the commanding one with the presence and charisma to lead the nation, and Elsa as the behind the scenes nuts and bolts one, who made it all work.

Hence this ball, a place where the high nobility and lower royalty of many kingdoms was gathered for a party, and where Anna and Kristoff were presented as the Princess of Arendelle and consort, and her own announcement had been conspicuously absent at her own request. She had a suspicion that King James of Corona supported her efforts, because when she had mentioned in the letters setting up this trip that she wanted the spotlight fixed on Anna, her uncle had not only cooperated fully, he'd actually made a few suggestions that she would not have thought of.

Elsa had no intention of deceiving her sister, but as she'd explained to Kristoff, this trip was part fun, part business and part proving ground, for all of them.

"Queen Elsa?" A voice interrupted her musings, and the young monarch cursed herself for her inattention, because this was a very dangerous voice belonging to a dangerous man. Her shoulders reflexively straightened and her eyes narrowed as her head came round and zeroed in on the short, balding man with a toupee and she noted that he looked older than he had when the Duke of Wessleton had tried to orchestrate her murder a few months ago.

"Well, well," Elsa allowed, trying to ruthlessly control the surge of pure rage that spiked through her and threatened to freeze the little man to the ground. "Duke Francois of Wessleton."

"Wessleton, it's pronounced…." The duke snapped reflexively, before coming to a halt as his brain caught up with his reactions, and to Elsa's surprise he almost appeared to blush. "Ah, yes indeed your majesty. You'd be amazed at how many people mispronounce the name."

"I doubt that somehow," Elsa responded with a smiled that could best be described as wintry.

"Yes, well, I was surprised when you weren't announced at the ball. I'm rather glad to have caught you here by yourself." He indicated the packed room in front of the two of them, and Elsa noted that her spot, which was not exactly hidden but definitely out of the way also meant that there were no convenient ears to overhear anything they might say to one another.

"Why?" Elsa demanded. "If you intend to try and have me murdered again, I promise you that this time I won't hold back." Her eyes narrowed and she had the mild satisfaction of seeing him flinch, as the temperature around them dropped sharply. "Nor will I limit myself to the hands that carry out the commands, I'll go for the brain that gave the orders."

The tiny Duke raised his hands in alarm. "Please Queen Elsa, I swear on my own life, I mean you no harm." He stopped there, though he obviously had other things he'd planned to say. When Elsa didn't impale him on a piece of ice, and he noticed the local temperature returning to normal, he ventured another thought. "Would it be safe to say that the letters from my own King did not reach you before you left Arendelle?"

"No," Elsa said with some suspicion. "I haven't seen any letters from King Hayden since the one confirming that he was sending you to attend my coronation."

Duke Francois gave a tight smile. "Then permit me to tell you in broad strokes what he has said, as he allowed me to see them before they were sealed." He waited until she nodded, then continued. "My King has offered to try me for attempted regicide on your behalf, promising that neither my position nor any political influence will be bent towards ensuring a specific verdict. Furthermore, he offers that if found guilty, he is willing to transport me to Arendelle to be publicly executed for my crimes in your court, and before your people."

Elsa couldn't help herself, her eyes had gone wide while he explained and on his last sentence her jaw dropped. It took her a moment to gather her emotional equilibrium before responding. "And yet I can't help but note that you are here, not under arrest or in jail. Nor can I rid myself of a suspicion that you wouldn't be found guilty of a capital crime given the importance and wealth of the Duchy of Wessleton."

He bobbed his head, "I am here as a personal favour to your uncle, who requested my presence. He and I hammered out the original trade agreement between Corona and Wessleton several decades ago and have been friends for a long time, well until recently. He took it rather amiss that I tried to have his niece killed. As to the other," his voice trailed off and he sighed. "Your Majesty, I have given my King a full accounting of the events of your coronation and its aftermath. I have omitted nothing, even the incredible, nor have I minimised my part in the debacle that followed. If it comes to trial, I shall be dammed by my own words."

Elsa was rapidly beginning to feel overwhelmed at the shocks coming her way. "Why?" she demanded. "Why would you do that, especially after what you did?"

"Because your Majesty, I may be a devious, and dishonest man when it comes to trade, but I am willing to face my errors squarely, and pay the price for them. I had a lot of time to think on the way back, and the more I did, the more I realised that while I believe I had the best of intentions, I had forgotten where the road of good intent can lead."

Elsa laughed, and it was an angry sound. "Good intent? You tried to have me murdered."

"Yes," he admitted. "And I would do so again."

Elsa was about to snap a response when she stopped and stilled. She really looked at the tiny Duke and realised that while he was very self-assured with what he was saying, it wasn't purely arrogance that was giving him the confidence. There was something more going on here than she could see, and it was somehow tremendously important to her that she understand this man who was apparently willing to die for his sins, and kill her for hers.

"What did I ever do to you that you hate me so much?" the young Queen demanded.

"You have sorcerous powers, you were a threat to your own people and you were out of control," Elsa opened her mouth, but he kept talking. "Don't deny it your Majesty. While I accept now that the situation was truly accidental on your part, it didn't change the fact that your kingdom was being frozen and you showed no interest nor ability to stop it. Yes I intended to have you killed, had it been within my power I would have wielded the dagger myself because the price of doing nothing might well have been the lives of everyone you were responsible for as Queen."

Elsa's expression was tight with anger as he explained himself. She neither agreed with nor liked his conclusions, but she had to agree with his premise that she had been out of control and a threat. That was the very reason she'd run to the North Mountain, and why she'd been so devastated when Anna told her Arendelle was frozen.

"It is not an action I would have relished, but the safety of your people and guests was paramount. At first I suspected genuine malice, but the reports from my men after the siege at the Ice palace made me doubt that. A truly evil woman would not have stopped merely because a man begged her not to become a monster. When Hans reported that you didn't know how to stop the winter following your capture, your death seemed like a very reasonable thing to try given the lack of other options, especially following his report of the death of Princess Anna at your hands. Hans was a consummate actor, I'll give him that."

He finished his drink and put it on a nearby piece of furniture, facing the Queen squarely. "Your majesty I am an old man, who has always prided himself on making the hard choices for King and Country. Sometimes I have made the wrong choices and if you choose to have me pay, even with my life, then I shall at least die knowing I tried to do the right thing."

"No, " Elsa said shaking her head. "It wasn't just about what was happening to Arendelle, you were afraid of me personally. You resented my powers. Your immediate reaction in the ballroom to the appearance of ice wasn't one of fear for my people, it was the bigoted reaction of one who hates magic."

"Yes," he responded evenly. "It was, and I do. You didn't earn your powers. Why then you and not someone else? What made you so special? What made you worthy of such a gift? What did you have that would give Arendelle such a devastating advantage over every one of its neighbours that was lacking in say the eldest daughter of my own King." There was genuine passion and anger in his voice as he spoke.

He ran a hand through his fake hair and sighed. "Your powers aren't earned. Unlike a child of Royalty, who I'll grant didn't earn their position either, they can be taught how to be a proper Royal. Your powers are a wild card, and given the extent of them potentially hazardous to entire nations. Frankly, nothing I've seen from you suggests you deserve such power, nor the boons it will bring to your kingdom."

"You stupid man," Elsa said, more tired than angry now. It was the final piece of the puzzle about the Duke that she had been wondering about. He had seen only the power she wielded, and not the cost. No wonder he had fixated on what she could do, the way he had. "Of course I was afraid of my powers. I had spent my entire adult life trying to hide them because I was afraid people would react exactly the way you did. And advantage? I could barely stop myself from freezing everything. I would have been more a threat to Arendelle than its neighbours in a conflict."

Elsa sighed deeply. She definitely felt she had a better grasp of the Duke's personality now. It didn't change any of his actions though and even now there were decisions to make, irrespective of her desire to let Anna publicly lead the nation. "If you see him before I get a chance to respond to his letters, tell your King, that I won't be seeking your execution, nor even your trial."

There was genuine surprise on his face now. "Your Majesty, I don't understand. I am manifestly guilty of the crimes I've been accused of." He seemed almost offended. It took Elsa a moment to realise why. The Duke was one of those people who could commit heinous acts if he felt they were necessary, but would neither lie to himself or to others about those acts after the fact. Elsa briefly wondered how he had ever survived to become Duke given that a mindset like that would not have made him popular with his peers.

"Yes you are," she agreed. "But if I'm to condemn you for doing what you thought was right, even if it wasn't, then I have many other people to condemn for the same reason." She didn't mention that her own parents would probably top the list of people who did her wrong for the best of reasons. One lesson she had learned at her father's knee was that revenge was a cycle, and it needed to be broken at one point or another.

"Anna is smarter than both of us you know, and she keeps reminding me that people make bad choices when they're mad, or stressed. I won't begin my reign with a public execution, yours or anyone else's." Elsa leaned back against the wall, and her eyes turned hard, and her voice took on a frozen chill "I won't, _can't_, forgive you what you did, but I'm willing to let the past be in the past."

The Duke looked a little ashamed as she said it. "I can't help but be grateful. I was expecting to be dead before the month was out. Thank you."

"Don't," Elsa said sharply. "You personally are still banned from the Kingdom of Arendelle, and if I'm willing to forget, then understand that if I ever hear of a hint of you meddling in the business of Arendelle, or of my family, I will not be so forgiving again."

The Duke swallowed as the threat went home. "I see, and I think I understand. Enjoy the ball your Majesty." With that he turned and quickly made his way to the exit, and Elsa rubbed her forehead, eyes closed as she considered how much could have been averted in the events following her coronation.

She was distracted by the sounds of shouting across the ballroom floor, but Elsa decided that for once this wasn't her problem and turned on her heel and left, making sure to leave through a different door from the Duke.

* * *

"So this is Eugene," Rapunzel said with a beaming grin on her face as she dragged Anna and Kristoff to meet her husband. "He's a great storyteller. Eugene this is my cousin, Princess Anna of Arendelle and Kristoff."

Eugene nodded and shook hands with Kristoff, while bowing toward Anna, as he'd been taught by the royal tutor who had seemed bemused to possibly the most famous thief in the kingdom for a student all of a sudden. However as the reformed conman looked at the two newcomers, letting his wife's voice wash over him as she explained some minutiae about the last people they'd been speaking to, he noticed that Kristoff was looking at him strangely.

He concentrated on the taller man, and he had a sudden sense of déjà vu. He couldn't help but feel like he'd met this man before.

"So," Eugene said after a moment. "I'm delighted to meet the two of you. I think we were supposed to meet last time, but Queen Elsa was a little vague on where the two of you were. Something about Trolls?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, they're Kristoff's family," Anna explained with a nod. "I mean not biologically of course, he's way too tall to be a Troll, but they adopted him as a kid."

"That's nice," Eugene responded, then decided to grab the bull by the horns as it were. "Sorry if this seems presumptuous, but have we met?"

Kristoff nodded, "I think we have, but you were calling yourself Flynn Rider at the time. You and a couple of others jumped me just outside of Tolana Forest and robbed me of everything I had that was worth stealing." With one notable exception, the silence that followed that statement was profound.

"And they raised him, wait what?" Anna suddenly said as her mental thought processes ran to a halt. "Kristoff, Flynn Rider is from a children's book."

Eugene rubbed the back of his head and blushed slightly. "Ah, this is awkward Princess. Before I met Rapunzel here, I did call myself Flynn Rider. Robbed people, conned people, all around bad guy really. I had my reasons, and like most people's reasons they seemed to make sense to me at the time, but that doesn't make them right."

"You mugged Kristoff?" Anna nearly shouted, a bewildered look on her face.

Eugene looked at Kristoff, well aware that the other man had the build of someone who had spent a lifetime at hard labour, and could probably crush him like a grape. _'Not that it's going to happen in the middle of a crowded ballroom,"_ he thought, trying to convince himself of that. "If it helps, I am really sorry Kristoff. I honestly don't remember robbing you, but I still feel bad."

"He really is," Rapunzel added quickly, noting the expression on Kristoff's face. "He's been making amends for years for the people he stole from. "

For a long moment there was silence between the four of them before Kristoff shrugged. It was a substantial shrug from a substantial man. "I think I probably should be upset," he finally said. "But if you vouch for him Princess Rapunzel, then that's good enough for me."

Three sets of eyes blinked in unison at that pronouncement, and Anna looked at Kristoff with a mixture of surprise and adoration. He didn't notice, eyes firmly locked on Eugene.

"That's, really mature actually," Eugene said diffidently, and Kristoff laughed.

"I can punch you a few times if it'll make you feel better," he said cheerfully, rubbing the back of his head for a moment in a gesture familiar to Anna. "But Elsa asked me to remember that I'm representing Arendelle tonight, and I don't think either her or Anna would appreciate that, and that doesn't get in to how the Coronans are likely to react if I punch their prince. Besides, it was a long time ago."

Eugene saw the gesture, and suddenly realised that Kristoff was nervous. With the same skills that he'd once used to size up a mark, he really looked at the other man, taking in all the subtle cues of body language and facial expression, and understood that just as Eugene Fitzherbert had once been unsure of his place as a commoner dating a princess, Kristoff was probably in a very similar boat. The man wasn't just uncomfortable in the clothing that he probably would never have selected for himself, he was actively ill at ease and trying to act like he thought he should be behaving. The thought suddenly offered him a way to make amends and to lighten the mood.

"If you'd like, by way of making it up to you, I can give you a quick guide on how to adapt to being suddenly in the limelight of a kingdom," Eugene offered slapping Kristoff on the back and guiding him towards a nearby table with some drinks on it, ignoring any and all protests coming from him. "There's tons of things about being a Prince all of a sudden that take a bit of getting used to, and I can give you good common sense tips for dealing with all of them. First, Royal Clothing is horrible if you're used to normal stuff. "

Their voices faded into the background din of the room as Rapunzel and Anna stared at each other, equally surprised looks on their faces.

"Well," Anna finally said. "That was unexpected."

"Tell me about it, mostly when people meet Eugene and know he was Flynn Rider, they want to beat him up. " She paused and thought for a second. "Actually, when I first met him pretty everyone we came across didn't like him. He seems to inspire that in people. Other people, " she clarified after a long moment.

"Love at first sight?" Anna asked, an odd expression on her face, and Rapunzel grinned

"Not exactly, but after I hit him with my frying pan several times and locked him in a cupboard I really began to warm to him."

* * *

It was quite a bit later when Elsa first noticed footsteps heading in her direction. She had found herself what appeared to be an abandoned nook near the top of the palace with a big bay window with a shelf that could comfortably be sat on, and she had the feeling people did so frequently given the general wear and tear of the cushions lying on it. In some ways she was surprised that she hadn't been interrupted before.

"Elsa," a cheerful voice said and the face and body of her cousin quickly followed. "I've been looking for you ever since I noticed you'd vanished from the party."

The Coronan princess hopped onto the ledge opposite Elsa and dangled a leg out the open window as she leaned back and looked at the bright moon outside, and Elsa had a sudden inkling as to who it was that had put some of the miles on the cushions.

"I had some thinking to do after I saw the Duke of Wessleton," Elsa said, carefully not allowing her anger to come through in her voice. From the look Rapunzel gave her, it didn't seem to have worked very well.

"Ah, he found you then," she finally responded. "I know my father asked him to leave you be."

"It's all right, just ruined my mood for a party, and I didn't want to inadvertently let my bad mood spill over onto other guests," Elsa assured her and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence.

"You know we never got a chance to talk properly after your coronation, what with the big freeze and our need to get back to Corona," Rapunzel said a while later. There was something faintly nervous about her when she said it, but Elsa had the impression that her cousin was used to being nervous and carrying on regardless. The Princess moved as if to tuck her hair behind her ears, before noticing that her hair wasn't long enough for it, and letting her hand drop back into her lap.

"Talk about what?" Elsa asked, a certain wary note in her voice.

"About what you went through growing up," Rapunzel replied quickly. A little too quickly, as if she'd been working up to this but now that the moment was here, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to raise the issue.

"Not something I like talking about to be honest," Elsa responded after a long moment. The truth was she didn't know Rapunzel nearly well enough to want to talk to her about the isolation of growing up in a tiny room, about her frequent bouts of depression, and her anxieties regarding her position and life.

"I can understand that," Rapunzel said softly, and Elsa couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Really?"

The Princess looked at the Queen, improbably the same age as each other and Elsa could almost see resolve stiffening between her eyes. "We're not that different Elsa. Tell me if this story sounds familiar to you, it's the story of a girl locked in a tiny room for her entire life, always watching through windows. Never being allowed out, never meeting people other than a parent who claimed to love her while telling her over and over again in word and deed that she never quite measured up."

Elsa's mouth had gone dry as Rapunzel recited the story, and even knowing it for a trap she found herself nodding, for she did see herself in that story.

"That's my story," the brunette finally said, reaching a hand forward to grasp Elsa's, not letting go even when the other girl flinched. "And yours. Sure, your parents actually loved you, while I'm not sure Gothel ever loved me. They taught you your powers were to be feared, Gothel taught me that mine was something magnificent, but that I should fear others abusing it. Little differences, but I really do understand."

Elsa felt her eyes moistening and she took a deep halting breath. "How did you deal with it?"

"I had people who loved me. I had Eugene and my parents and I leaned on them when I needed to. I had people I could talk to and who would do things just to make me happy if I was feeling sad," she responded. "And, I think big difference was that I never afraid of my powers, of what they would do to others the way you were. The way you still are, I think."

Elsa said nothing, wouldn't have known what to say even if she wanted to. Rapunzel had managed to get right to the heart of her own fears in just a few sentences. There was no doubt in Elsa's heart that she loved her sister, and that Anna loved her, but the younger girl was too close to see things clearly. She was always trying to cheer up her older sister, not realising the fear that still gripped her most times.

Rapunzel had distance, she had a perspective that wasn't tinted by having experienced the worst of the three day winter Elsa had caused, and she grasped just how terrified Elsa still was of her abilities. Sure they were under control now, but that control had failed in the past, and it could fail again. If she lost control again, would it be worse. Could she doom a second kingdom as well as her own? It was the kind of thought that kept her up at night.

Elsa felt her powers reacting instinctively to her inner turmoil, in a way highlighting the exact problem she was afraid of, and she snatched her hand back from Rapunzel and took a few deep breaths. She concentrated on calmness, on the burst of love she'd felt when Anna had wrapped her arms around her without hesitation on the deck of a frozen ship, and the flare of her power died down.

"Can we," she paused for a second. "Can we not talk about this tonight, please?"

"Okay," Rapunzel said, a sad smile on her face. "Consider the conversation put on hold, but we do need to have it before you head home. The big question you do have to answer for now is, what do you want to do tomorrow?"

"I have a choice?" Elsa asked, giving the other girl a smile. "I sort of assumed there whole month would be planned ahead of time."

"Sure and we did, but the great thing about Corona is that we don't stand overly much on ceremony," Rapunzel said with as smirk. "In fact, Queen Elsa, for this visit, you may consider me your personal therapy minion. Why don't you tell me what would make you happy right now. Don't overthink it. Just say the first thing that comes to mind."

Elsa did as she asked, and was surprised herself when the first thing she thought and therefore said was, "I want to go on an adventure." She examined the little thought for a few moments and realised that despite her flight to North Mountain, she hadn't actually left the palace grounds properly since she was a child.

She wanted to go out and see a bit more of the world, visit some villages, walk through some woods or eat lunch by a stream. Corona was a lovely city she was sure, but it was similar enough to Arendelle, that it felt like she hadn't really left the confines of her home. She had never been claustrophobic, but she didn't want to spend the entirety of her visit in another castle, another city with walls as real as the ones she had in her mind.

Her thoughts stilled as Rapunzel gave her a blinding smile. "Fantastic. Score one for me," she said, and then laughed at Elsa's surprised look. "Eugene didn't think you or Anna would want to leave the city."

She fairly well leapt off the ledge and twirled around in the corridor until she was facing Elsa again. "And I know just the place too."

"You're do?" Elsa asked, taken a little aback by Rapunzel's enthusiasm.

"Yup, got an adventure ready to go everything, Misty mountains, abandoned castles, secrets lost long ago and possibly some treasure, the whole nine yards. Get ready for an early start tomorrow cousin, we've got places to be."

* * *

"So he said yes?" Hades asked of Maleficent as she stood before the rock he was using as a chair. It was a different rock from last time, and much less comfortable. Still, he didn't let it bother him overly much, he was a God after all.

"Of course he did," the green skinned woman replied. "I offered him everything he thinks he wants. Little minds fixate on little things after all."

Hades chuckled and summoned a glass with drink in it. "Very true. Makes you wonder if the idiot even realises how much he could have had if he'd actually been that quirky guy he pretended to be."

"Better for my plans that he is like this. Desperate and isolated from others. People like that are easier to use."

"Alrighty then. So you'll be leaving?" He asked. "Not that it isn't great to see you Mallie, but there are worlds to conquer, kingdoms to raze and people to kill."

"Indeed," she responded, without bothering to threaten or correct him for the off-handed way he spoke to her. Hades had already demonstrated that he wouldn't be corrected, and there was no threat Maleficent could issue that she could follow through on.

Without another word, she vanished into smoke and Hades could sense her departing Limbo. One of the very few ways out of this place was to find a mortal willing to let a resident share their body, and even then it wasn't true life. Maleficent would be tied to Hans until she located the staff she was so desperate to find. A locus of her power she had said, and apparently the key to her victory.

Hades was a people person when all was said and done, and he had noticed the particular emphasis she'd placed on the word 'key' when she had told him that. He had an inkling as to what the Queen of evil was up to, and it would be an interesting few days in Corona, especially when Hans arrived.

He continued straining his senses both mortal and his more esoteric ones, to ensure that no trace of Maleficent was still near him, nor anyone else for that matter. After all, privacy was important, he thought to himself as a chessboard appeared in front of him. On one side stood the evil Queen, with Hans standing behind her. To the side of the Prince were shadows, malicious and evil creatures made of pure darkness. The kind of darkness that could overwhelm even the kindest of hearts.

Arrayed against them were three women, the Royalty of Corona and Arendelle. One covered in ice, another covered in sunlight and the one in the center glowing faintly with silver light. Behind them stood the best part of a dozen silver forms. All female, all in some way connected to those three through the girl in the center.

"Sun, snow and spirit versus shadow and darkness. What fun," he said with a smirk.

A third side appeared on the board, and he placed a small carved version of himself there, along with a few other pieces, most notably a young woman with a mass of curly red hair and a bow on her back. _"After all,"_ he thought to himself. _"Every game should have a random element."_

It kept things from getting dull.

A flash of light appeared above the board and Hades looked into the portal that had appeared. "She's coming, you're going to want to get ready," Hades said into the portal and it disappeared. The former Lord of the Dead dismissed the chessboard, and began to laugh. Interesting times indeed.

TBC.


	4. Chapter 3: Bad Nights and Bad Horses

Fun Fact: Happy Valentine's day everyone.

**Chapter 3: Bad nights and bad horses**

* * *

The boat wasn't like the ones she was used to at home, that much she knew. Truth be told, for all her adventurous spirit, the sea was one of those big mysteries she neither cared about, nor cared for when push came to shove. The red-head with the stunningly curly hair looked out over the bow of the ship at the lights that shone from the city of Corona at night. The sun had set hours ago, and like most nights sea traffic had virtually ceased. The lone ship bearing the Scottish flag and a pennant denoting its origin cut through the dark waters with purpose.

Merida, eldest daughter of Clan Dunbroch reached into the saddlebag and drew out the little blue creature that seemed to be made of living flame and cradled it as she raised her hand so that it could see. "There you go little one," she said, her Scottish brogue giving the words a lilting tone. "Corona, city of the sun. I've got no idea why you wanted me to come here, but not long after night fall, we'll be landing."

She had no idea if it could understand language, but it seemed to respond to her well enough. She had made a point of keeping the wee thing out of sight of other people. Her people had a long history with the supernatural, and Wisp sightings were common enough that it would have garnered surprise, but little else. Out here though, she knew that it probably would attract more attention than she wanted.

Unlike the Will O' the Wisps she had known in the past, this one didn't vanish when she had approached it after it appeared in her room a fortnight ago. In fact it had hung around, and just insistently tried to nudge her in this direction. At first she thought she was going barmy, but the Wisp had been insistent. She'd ended up playing what amounted to a massive game of hot and cold trying to figure out where the solitary Wisp had wanted her to go until it appeared to get frustrated and lead her to a map-room and sat down on map of nearby countries.

No matter how she had tried, she hadn't convinced the little thing to move from the map, and eventually even Merida had got the hint and tried to figure out what was going on. The Wisp had landed on a small nation called Corona, and on its capital, also called Corona. It was a little redundant in her mind, but she figured it would be hypocritical to complain given that she lived in Castle DunBroch. She had tried to ask the Wisp questions, but it hadn't answered, just repeated its little sound over and over again until Merida had wondered out loud if she shouldn't just go to Corona.

That had finally gotten a response, and the Wisp made it quite clear it approved. It took Merida maybe another hour to decide the blasted little thing wasn't going to leave her alone, and she had then gone to her parents to arrange transport for herself and her horse Duncan to the foreign city. By boat it would only be a week's worth of travel, and that was well within her tolerances for travel.

Mind you, until the Wisp had landed on the map, she had never even heard of Corona. She hadn't put it quite that way to her mother as Corona was one of their trading partners and she didn't want a lecture about how a Princess should know about these things. Her parents had taken a bit of convincing, even with the Wisp's help, but they had finally consented to her going. She only hoped she would recognise whatever it was the Wisp wanted her to see when she got there, because much as during the fun incident with her mother being turned into a bear, she had chosen to follow the path laid out by the Wisps.

* * *

"So I said, 'I love my wife, and she needs her frying pan'. You should have seen him run for it." Eugene watched as Kristoff laughed at the anecdote he'd shared as the two of them slowly meandered back towards the guest quarters. It was late, and he was probably going to regret the late night come morning, but he wasn't overly worried.

In fact, given that the evening had started off with him believing that Kristoff was going to punch him, the man once known as Flynn was willing to consider it a great ending to the night. He'd spent much of the early evening chatting with the young man, dissecting his concerns about being the Prince-Consort of Corona and giving him advice on how to deal with the inevitable dislocation of one's life to be elevated to that kind of level.

And somewhere along the line, he and Kristoff had found a common thread in their shared love for quirky, amazing women who were worth fighting for, worth risking for, and ultimately worth dying for. The Stabbingtons notwithstanding, Eugene had never had many guy-friends but he had a good feeling about the young Ice-harvester.

As the ball had worn down, and more and more guests had turned in, the two of them had found themselves sharing drinks while exchanging their stories of how they'd met their respective Princesses. Kristoff had snickered at Eugene's meetings with Maximus, while Eugene had listened at the other man's tales of growing up with Trolls and their inappropriate attempt to marry him to Anna while the latter was dying of cold.

It had proved an interesting bonding experience, and even though they were very different people, and very different personalities, there were similarities enough to make it a fun night.

"So, any last questions about dating Royalty before we turn in?" he asked as they ascended the stairs.

"One I guess," Kristoff responded. "What do you do when it all just gets a bit overwhelming? Earlier tonight we were talking to some ambassador from the United Provinces of Holland, and he asked me something about Arendelle Naval Policy as it applied to North Sea trading routes, and I had no idea what to say. I didn't even know we had a Naval Policy about that. Actually, I'm not even sure I know what part is the North Sea and when it becomes the Atlantic."

Eugene chuckled. Bart Van Lijster, the ambassador in question could be a bit of a handful. Fussy, detail oriented and in so many ways the perfect ambassador for a trading nation like Holland. "Oh that's easy," he responded. "You know what I do anytime it gets too much, when I have another formal dance class, or political lesson. One more boring meeting or ball that makes me want to run screaming to the hills, I just ask myself a question."

"What question?" Kristoff asked curiously.

"It's a great question" Eugene exposited. "And as soon as I ask myself that, I calm down, take a deep breath and just keep going. Because I would put up with any old thing, if I have her. So Kristoff, do you love her, and is she worth it?"

"Yes," Kristoff answered without hesitating, and for a moment he looked like he was a bit surprised as he answered.

Eugene gave the other man a huge and genuine smiled and clapped him on the back. "Good man, and you didn't hesitate either. So whenever you think you're getting overwhelmed, just remember who you're doing it for."

Kristoff thought about that for a moment, finally nodding to himself. "Thanks Eugene, that actually helps."

"No problem. I figure that as future in-laws, we've got to stick together you know, at least when it comes to the women in our lives." he said and with that left Kristoff at the door to his room and headed of towards his own room. Kristoff stood there for a minute, and had anyone seen him they might have noticed a goofy grin on his face before he went into his room. He and Anna had agreed to take things slow, as per Elsa's request and the two of them were in adjoining but separate rooms.

He briefly considered knocking on the door between the rooms and seeing Anna was still awake, but ultimately decided against it. It was late, she would probably be asleep by now, and they had a whole month here and it had been a fairly long day anyway. Instead he made himself ready for bed, and as he dozed off, Eugene's question ran through his mind.

He quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The barriers between worlds exist for a reason. The dead have no real place in the realm of the living, and to make sure the two stay separate there are walls. Sometimes people refuse to move on after death, and become ghosts and ghasts and poltergeists. Stuck forever in a world they no longer belong to, unable to move on and unable to live. Other times the spirits of the dead try and return, because they believe there is something left undone, or for more nefarious purposes.

Any wall, no matter how strong, can be breached however, and there are times when the walls are thin and porous. On the feast of All Hallows Eve, a night that would one day become Halloween for instance, the barriers are weakened. Great battles in which many souls depart tended to weaken the barrier too, as did certain foul magics.

If someone did not have such a weak moment available, the walls could also be artificially breached if one has the power and the will to do so. Some people had a knack of slipping through quietly. A man who would one day meet his end in New Orleans for instance, had developed his skills to the point that he could cut through the barriers with all the grace of a surgeon wielding a scalpel. He would use this ability to further his own ambitions, trading souls for power with his friends from the other side.

Maleficent had no interest in such subtleties, and she came crashing through the barrier like a sledgehammer through a pane of glass. Using a combination of raw power borrowed from Hades, and the power of blood magic, one of the darkest arts ever recorded in grimoires, and only used by the darkest of practitioners, she was able to simply breach the barriers and deposit herself into the willing body of Hans of the Southern Isles.

His body jerked as she arrived and took up residence, within moments he had freed himself from his prison by the simple expedient of letting Maleficent demonstrate how she could channel her power through his body by blasting a hole in the door, stunning both the guards and cutting a gash through the castle walls. Only mildly horrified by the sheer level and ease of the violence he could do, Hans still managed to avoid fatal strikes with the power he now wielded. After all, these were his people after a fashion and the less of them he killed, the easier it would be later to strike a deal with his brother.

But for all the undeniable violence of her entry into the living world, almost no one noticed. Certain people who were attuned to psychic events noticed, one or two even suffered visions or hallucinations and at least one would flee his home into the night to get away from the nightmare her perceived as coming.

In fact, if not for the fact that they were waiting, a number of spirits, ghostly and shining of the silver lights of souls would have had no way to return to the living world themselves. Fortunately, the massive gaping wound in the barriers could be crossed with far less effort than it would have been required otherwise. Like most spirits however, their connection to the real world was tenuous.

Blood calls to blood though, and as one the spirits made their way to the Castle of the Sun in Corona, where Anna of Arendelle slept.

* * *

Anna had always enjoyed sleeping and dreaming. It was the one place where she had total freedom growing up. The one place where her existence wasn't defined by the walls of the palace, but only by her imagination. She had spent her fair share of the time in the library as a child, but whereas Elsa had been studying politics and history and how to rule, Anna had loved fiction. Tales of far off travels, of the Caribbean and the Americas. Of China and Africa and all the places in between and when she had gone to bed, her fertile imagination had crafted adventures for her while she slept.

Though the term 'lucid dreaming' wouldn't come about for a few centuries yet, Anna always knew when she was dreaming. She had an awareness of being asleep and of being able to give her thoughts free rain, so it was some surprise to her that she felt like she was dreaming, but that she was still lying in her bed in the castle.

"Hmm," she murmured to herself. "That's just a bit weird." She felt like she was wide awake, but she also knew with absolute certainty that she wasn't. It was all very peculiar, and Anna had never been the kind of person to let a peculiar feeling lie. The door to her room opened and she got out of bed, and walked over to it, a puzzled look on her face.

She reached out to close the door, and froze as she looked at her hand. Her skin was normally a pale white, but as she looked at her hand, she looked like she had been out in the sun. Her skin was darker and as she raised her hands to get a good look at them her eyes widened. She knew her hands like, well like the backs of her hands, and those were most definitely not her hands.

Running over to the mirror, she quickly lit the candle so that she could actually see and her already wide eyes opened to comical proportions. Looking back at her was a different woman entirely. A more angular face, with long dark hair looked back at her. Faintly she recognised the look as being similar to artists' renditions of the tribals that lived in the Americas. As she took in more details, she also noticed that her reflection was wearing what appeared to be a buckskin dress, and she glanced down at herself to verify that she was actually still in her nightgown.

The figure in the mirror began to talk, but Anna couldn't make out what she was trying to say. She shook her head trying to convey her lack of understanding, and the woman's face took on a frustrated look. She vanished from the mirror, only to be replaced by another woman and Anna gasped. The newcomer was beautiful. Skin pale as alabaster, topped with dark hair and ruby red lips. She too began to speak and just as before Anna couldn't make out a word being said. It was like they were talking under water.

The woman in the mirror sighed, and vanished leaving only Anna's reflection staring back at her in the candlelight. She was about to reach out and touch the mirror, unsure of what was going on, when the candle began to grow dim. Smoke seemed to waft into the mirror, and formed into two figures, one of whom was quite obviously Anna, the other a dark thing of shadow looming over her in a way that just screamed 'threat'.

The princess scrambled back out of the seat and away from the mirror, tripping over something and landing with a bump. As she stood her head to clear it, she suddenly realised that she was no longer in her room. Instead she was in a dark forest, oppressive and evil looking and standing across from her was a hunched over and evil looking crone, who was handing the second girl she'd seen in the mirror an apple. Anna didn't know how or why, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the apple was a bad idea.

But before she could intervene, the girl took a bite, and fell over unconscious as the crone laughed.

Anna ran. She had no idea where she was running too, but she ran nonetheless. Away from the evil woman who had poisoned the girl. A detached part of her brain wondered how she could be so sure it was poison, but there was no doubt in her that it was. She broke free from the forest and skidded to halt.

She appeared to be standing in a small room, complete with an antique spinning wheel. She glanced back and wasn't completely surprised to see the forest had vanished, and been replaced by a door through which came a pleasant looking young lady. The newcomer ignored Anna as completely as the two in the forest had, as she walked over to the spinning wheel, a curious expression on her face.

"No, don't do it," Anna spoke quickly as she tried to stop the other woman, but her hands just went straight through her, like she was a ghost. _"Or I am,"_ Anna thought. The young woman with the blonde hair walked up the spinning wheel and tentatively, almost hesitantly reached out a finger to touch the point.

"Really?" Anna asked in an exasperated tone. "Why would you deliberately stab yourself with a needle?"

The woman continued to ignore her, and touched the needle before collapsing and Anna sighed to herself.

"Okay, I think I see the theme running here. Don't accept food from strangers and don't stab myself with random needles. Now what's going on," she shouted, getting more angry than concerned.

In response the room grew dark again, and she found herself standing before a massive forest of brambles. Dark and foreboding, a chill wind whipped through her hair with enough force to stagger Anna. She looked towards the brambles and realised that far from normal plants, these had dark thorns, dripping with what appeared to be blood. Her eyes was drawn upwards by movement and her jaw dropped as she took a reflexive step backwards.

High above the brambles toward a black dragon. Its scales, so dark they seemed to glitter, rippled as its massive neck turned an equally massive head towards Anna. Its eyes, each as large as she was focussed on her with an alien and evil malevolence and a thunderous roar leapt from its throat as it moved towards her on wings so darks he could barely make them out against the dark sky.

Anna cursed as she turned to run, but it became almost immediately obvious that there was nowhere to run from this darkness as the ground had given way to a massive lake. Anna had swum on a few occasions, but she was hardly a strong enough swimmer to be willing to brave an unknown lake with a Dragon chasing her. Her clothes weren't really suited for it either come to think of it.

She turned back to the approaching threat, her heart hammering in her throat as the massive form slammed into the ground before her.

"Wait wait wait, please. I'm not your enemy," Anna screamed, with no idea what else to say. There was nowhere to run to, and words were all she had. The dragon ignored her please, and the giant mouth opened to engulf her, even as she saw a glow deep in its throat that presaged Dragon's Breath.

Anna woke in her bed, catapulting out of the covers with a shout and onto the ground where she scrambled back into a nearby wall ignoring the twinge of pain of having thrown herself out of her bed and onto the stone floor. She was dripping with sweat and shivering in a way she hadn't done since Elsa had almost frozen her solid. Her eyes shot from side to side, but there was no sign of the threat she'd dreamt about.

It seemed like an eternity later, but was probably only seconds when Kristoff came charging through the interior door into her room. Had she been less distraught she might have noticed that Kristoff apparently slept in very little clothing, and what he did sleep in did not leave a great deal to the imagination.

Things being what they were however, she barely noticed, even when he came over to her and put his arms around her.

"Anna, what happened, are you okay?" he asked, concern obvious in his voice and bearing.

"Nightmares," she responded breathlessly, although having Kristoff's arms around her was already calming her down. "Strange, disturbing women and dragons going to eat me."

"It's okay," he said, holding her tightly as they sat on the floor of her room. "They're just dreams." He sounded like he wanted to ask her about the dreams, but if so, he chose not to, and Anna was grateful. She'd be more than willing to tell him all about her nightmares in the morning, but not right now.

Anna's breathing began to return to something resembling normality, and she leaned into Kristoff's shoulder as he sat beside her.

"Just dreams," she repeated. "Just dreams."

Even with the intensity of what had happened, she was already beginning to doze off again, but before she did she reflected that she really enjoyed falling asleep in Kristoff's arms.

* * *

King Kurt Osterman, ruling monarch of the Southern Isles and elder brother to Hans who had so spectacularly escaped in the night, looked like he had aged weeks in the several hours since his chief of security had woken him in the middle of the night. Kurt loved Hans as a brother, but his actions had been beyond the pale even before his attempt to assassinate Queen Elsa. The King was not looking forward to seeing the eventual diplomatic meeting he would have to arrange, nor the state visit that would come from it in order to apologise personally and on behalf of his family.

But for all that, he had never expected anything like this. Hans had always been so calm and collected, and he had never demonstrated magical powers, but something had obviously changed. The door to the cell hung by a single hinge, and it was blackened as if burned. No fire could have done that kind of damage that quickly however, nor could any fire he knew about cut through the massive stone walls of the castle like a knife through butter, but somehow Hans had done so anyway.

It worried the King immensely, because whatever Hans was going to do now that he'd escaped custody, his people could probably not stop him without resorting to lethal measures, and even with his crimes being evident he was loathe to order the death of his brother. For one thing it would break his mother's heart.

But he couldn't do nothing either. Hans was more ambitious than Kurt had ever thought, and his baby brother had acquired power somehow. He dreaded to think where that power might have come from, or what bargain Hans had made for it. Magic was far from unknown in the Southern Isles, especially within the Royal family, but this was dark magic. Even now the burns on the door and wall seemed to have shadows clinging to them like oil.

"Tell your men to look for him," he told his security chief. The man who had also been one of his oldest friends nodded in response and was about to start giving orders when the King held up a hand. "But tell them not to engage. Something has changed, and I think we have to consider him extremely dangerous at this point."

The chief gave him a sympathetic look and nodded. "Of course sire. Shall I notify your parents?" he asked.

"I'll tell them," the King said. It was one of those duties that went with being King that he occasionally wished he could delegate. He couldn't do that in this case. For all of his flaws, their parents had loved Hans as much as they'd loved their other sons. They would have probably stopped having children sooner if that weren't the case.

In fact, all throughout the Southern Isles people knew that Ariel and Eric loved each other and their children deeply, and if Kurt nursed as suspicion that maybe they'd kept having kids so enthusiastically because his mother wanted a daughter as well as sons, it was a thought he'd kept to himself.

It's not like he wanted to have a discussion about that topic with his mother after all.

* * *

Elsa would be the first to admit that her instincts during a confrontation were more flight than fight. In fact she had only ever wielded her power with the intent to cause harm once. Marshmallow after all had been primarily designed to keep people away, but she had fought the Duke's men quite actively.

Despite that, if anyone were to ask, Elsa would also have said she was adaptable, capable and smart, and that she could solve any problem, and if need be defeat any dastardly foe. She ran a country for Heaven's sake.

Her dastardly foe looked back at her, meeting the steely glare of the Snow Queen with a calm, almost placid look of indifference.

"You know," she complained, with a somewhat un-Queenly whine in her voice that she just couldn't eliminate. "This really isn't that funny."

Rapunzel managed to look admirably grave, though her lips were twitching. Eugene on the other hand was doubled over and nearly catatonic with laughter. The horse, saddled and ready for its rider merely continued to gaze placidly at the Queen.

True to her word, Rapunzel who had been up sometime before daybreak had come charging into her room as soon as the sky had begun to brighten, and had dragged her through a very abbreviated breakfast, and provided her with what the Brunette had termed 'proper riding clothes'. They were a far cry from the gowns and dresses Elsa usually wore, but she had to admit that the dark brown boots, pants and shirt fit her well and would be far more comfortable for riding.

Assuming she ever managed to gain control of the damned horse.

It was her own fault, she supposed. When her cousin had asked Elsa if she'd ever been on a horse before, she had responded in the affirmative. Her sleep-addled brain hadn't parsed the question properly to mean, had she been trained to ride a horse, as opposed to whether she had ever been on one.

Elsa distinctly remembered the midnight ride to the Trolls following the accident. However it had been the last time she had been anywhere near a horse. After all, if she hadn't been willing to risk her powers freezing people, she had been equally disinclined to risk freezing any of the palace horses.

She was paying for that oversight now as she tried to get a foot in the stirrup and the horse promptly moved, sending her foot flying and very nearly sending her with it. Eugene howled with laughter again as she desperately grabbed for the reigns, and her cheeks heated as she heard the muted sound of chuckling coming from the various stable hands, whose number had appeared to have grown since she started trying to get on the demonic steed.

Some part of her wanted to order them all to leave, and let her humiliate herself in private, but she didn't. For starters they weren't her people, and they weren't actually doing anything wrong. _"Besides, it would probably do me good_," she thought, trying in vain to convince herself of that. _"You know, remember that I'm actual mortal. What did the Romans used to do, have a slave ride with the general to remind him that he was mortal?"_

She muttered some very unflattering things about the horse, who didn't seem to care one way or another as she banished any thoughts of Roman generals, and tried again. This time, with a timely assist from a stable hand who was smiling very broadly, she was able to haul herself up into the saddle, and held on for dear life, even though the horse wasn't actually moving. It seemed like a long way down to the ground from up there.

"Hey Blondie," Eugene asked, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "Not that this hasn't been just as funny as Elsa knows it's been, but how about we tether her horse to mine so we can get moving now that she's ready to go. That way she can get used to being in the saddle before we cut her lose to ride all across this great nation of ours."

Rapunzel, dressed similarly to Eugene, but for the bare feet she still favoured, fairly well leapt into the saddle. While she had no more experience than Elsa did on horseback before becoming the Princess again, she had been on plenty of horses since then.

"You know," she said as she pulled the palace horse around to face Eugene and Elsa. "It's a shame Max can't come. He would have been ideal as a first time horse."

"Yeah," Eugene responded as he tied his horse to Elsa's. "But you know him. He's taking the whole 'captain of the guard' thing seriously. "

"You have a horse as captain of the guard?" Elsa asked sceptically. "You're joking right, at my expense?"

"Nope," Rapunzel replied cheerfully. "He's good too. "

Elsa blinked a few times before shrugging her shoulders. It caused the horse to move, and she gripped the stirrup with both hands, only panicking mildly. "If I've never said this before, your country is weird, Cousin."

"Yeah, but it is home, so what can you do? Ready Eugene?"

"Ready my Princess," he said, a smile on his face as he looked at his wife.

"Wait," Elsa said, only partially because she wasn't sure she trusted the horse, even tethered. "Aren't Anna and Kristoff coming with us?"

"Ran into Kristoff this morning, he said Anna had a bad night, and since neither of them got much sleep he suggested the two of them could spend a few days exploring the city while we're heading off on our little adventure.

"Neither of them got much sleep?" Elsa asked, her tone sharp and an eyebrow raised in an inquisitive gesture. Eugene suddenly had visions in his head of what Elsa would be like as an older sister trying to police boyfriends. It was an oddly charming sort of image, but not what he needed in his head right now.

"It's not like that," Eugene responded with a smile. "She had some bad dreams, he calmed her down and she asked him to stay with her for a bit and they fell asleep. He's going to stay with her until she gets up."

Several responses seemed to cross Elsa's mind at that point, and for a moment she said nothing. Finally she just shook her head like a duck shedding water, and grunted. "You know, I'm just going to take your word for that. Shall we be off?"

Rapunzel smiled. "Lets."

* * *

Anna woke slowly, everything about her thoughts lethargic and slow. Her mouth tasted like she had stuffed cotton in it, usually a sign that she'd been chewing her pillow. Although she'd never admit it to a living soul, she wasn't really a morning person by nature. Today it was harder to get out of bed than usual though, and not just because she felt exhausted as if she'd run a marathon, or possibly tried to escape from forests, strange castles and a dragon.

She forced her eyes open, and confirmed that yes, Kristoff was lying in the bed next to her. Unlike her, he was lying on the covers, and was more or less fully clothed. Since she had distinct and fond memories of him being more than half naked, wearing only some pants to sleep in, from last night when he came into her room after she woke from the nightmare, she guessed he had been up already and changed, or had changed after putting her back to bed.

She pressed a light kiss to his forehead, which didn't wake him and slowly and carefully climbed out of bed, trying not to disturb it or him any more than she had to. There had been few enough people in her life who would have spent the night platonically by her side in case her nightmares came back that she was grateful to him, and she wasn't going to deny him any more sleep than she already had.

She blushed briefly at the thought of what she wore to sleep in, and how he must have carried her back to her bed, but couldn't stop the smile forming on her lips either. They had been edging closer and closer to this for the last few months after all, and even keeping in mind how disastrously wrong her infatuation with Hans had gone, she couldn't help but be pleased.

Kristoff wasn't the dastardly prince from the Southern Isles after all. He showed in deed, what Hans had only claimed in word. Whereas the one had claimed to always be there for her, the other had actually physically put her on his Reindeer and cut them loose while racing for a gorge. It hadn't registered during the adventure, but he had deliberately set things up during that chase to ensure she and his best friend had the highest chances of surviving. Even after only knowing her for a few hours, and being more or less bullied into helping her, Kristoff had deliberately given Anna the best chance of surviving the jump he could.

And he had behaved that way throughout the journey. Grumpy, sure and disillusioned with her naïve belief that she could talk Elsa into unfreezing Arendelle, he had stuck with her, and done his level best for her. That hadn't stopped after they got back either. Elsa had been hesitant at best to listen to Anna talk about how her fondness for Kristoff wasn't the same thing as her infatuation with Hans, but her older sister had listened eventually, and agreed to give them a chance.

And Kristoff had done his level best to be worthy of that chance, even though he often had no clue how to interact with the Palace staff, or with Elsa or what the normal Royal Protocol was, he had tried. Every setback had simply been met with renewed effort, every question he got wrong was met with questions of his own to make sure he got it right next.

And in the meantime he had showed Anna how much he cared. He had taken her on trips into Arendelle to see how everyone else lived. He'd shown her his life, even as she had tried to show him hers.

Anna was becoming more and more certain that they were genuinely in love, and it wouldn't be too much longer before she could proclaim it to the world. She might even write a song about it.

She turned away from the bed and her contemplations on the person in it, and rubbed a hand over her scratchy eyes before stumbling over to the vanity and sitting down In front of it. She peeked quickly at the mirror, and the sighed in relief as her own reflection, messy and unkempt stared back at her. Yawning she grabbed the brush and began brushing her hair back, and she had almost convinced herself that everything was normal, when she heard a voice behind her. A voice that was a little too high, not to mention speaking a different language to be Kristoff.

Very slowly and deliberately she turned round on her chair, keeping her eyes fixed on the brush in her hand until she was fully turned. She slowly raised her head and looked at the figure she had really hoped wouldn't be standing in front of her. Standing across from her was a figure she'd seen reflected in the mirror the night before. Copper skin, topped with long black hair and eyes that seemed to twinkle as they gazed at her.

When she spoke, the words seemed to come as if from a great distance, or as if the woman was speaking from underwater. For that matter, she didn't look entirely solid either, as if she wasn't quite there. The young princess had seen lots of strange things since the coronation, but she wasn't quite willing to accept ghosts just yet.

"Good morning Anna," She finally said, repeating herself. Anna was quite sure that the stranger hadn't spoken English, but she understood her nonetheless.

"Aww crap," Anna replied with feeling.

TBC.


	5. Chapter 4: The House Of The Rodent King

Authors note: Five chapters and almost 30,000 words in, I just want to say thank you to everyone reading, following and favoriting this story.

Fun Fact: Every chapter contains either a specific trope as a theme, or a specific shout-out to another movie, TV show or book. Bonus points for anyone who can spot them.

**Chapter four: The House of the Rodent King**

"Kristoff?" Anna asked, the volume of her voice below a shout, but not by much. A blonde head snapped off the pillow it had been laying on, and sleepy eyes met hers as he moved his jaw. One big hand came up to rub his eyes. "Can you wake up please?"

"Anna," he yawned. "What's wrong?" He was tired. Besides having a late night to begin with, his sleep had been interrupted twice. First by Anna's nightmare, and the second time by Eugene knocking on their doors, looking to see if they wanted to come on some quick adventure with him, Rapunzel and Elsa. He'd demurred, citing the bad night, before going back to sleep. It still hadn't helped him get a good night's rest.

Glancing at the ornate clock on the wall, he noted that it was already nearly mid-day, and the young man rolled out of bed to look at Anna. Kristoff took in the girl he had quietly admitted to himself he was in love with, and all his protective instincts began to scream at him. The young woman was literally pressed back against the vanity, not exactly panicking, but definitely disturbed by something. She was gripping the front of the thing hard enough for her hands to have turned white, and her eyes were fixed on the far side of the room.

He looked over there himself, but all he saw was an empty chair. It was a nice chair, comfy and well-padded he was sure, but a chair nonetheless. Nothing all to special for the kinds of rooms they were in, even if it was probably expensive enough to feed a family for a month or more. He wasn't particularly interested in money for the sake of money, but even he could spot when something was just ostentatious. He briefly examined the rest of the room just to make sure he wasn't missing anything then turned his eyes back to Anna.

"Don't you see her?" the Princess hissed at him, eyes never leaving the empty chair, and Kristoff's eyes dipped as for the first time he began to genuinely worry about Anna's state of mind. Whatever nightmare she had last night had obviously affected her more than he realised. If she was seeing things, then there might be something genuinely wrong with her.

"Anna, there's no one in this room but the two of us." Kristoff looked around the room with a slightly bewildered look. He hadn't had nearly enough sleep to be able to properly process what was going on here.

"She's right there," Anna exclaimed even as Kristoff left the bed and walked over to her. "She's sitting in that chair, and she's smiling!"

She looked up at Kristoff as he came over and put a hand on her shoulder, and there was something incredibly vulnerable in her eyes. "Kristoff please, I'm not going crazy, and I'm not imagining things. There is a woman, coppery skin, black hair, beads and buckskin dress, sitting in that chair."

Kristoff looked at her, their gazes meeting for a few moments, and his mind briefly went back to the discussion that he'd had with Eugene the night before. He had expected to have at least a day or two before he would find himself tested like this again, but the decision came to him just as it had before. He would believe Anna, because he loved her and would support her, because he loved her.

Even if it made no sense to him, he would choose to believe her because if nothing else, her sister had freaky Ice powers. Who was to say that Anna couldn't have some freaky powers of her own, and if her and Elsa's history was anything to go by, the one thing he could not afford to do was let her think that he thought there was something wrong with her.

To his own surprise, he didn't even think that she was crazy. Sure, it was weird if she was seeing people who weren't there, but like most people the Sami had their own ghost stories, and their own legends of people who could talk to spirits and other things. If Anna was one of them, he'd deal with that too. At heart, Kristoff was a pragmatist, and for him the decision was remarkably uncomplicated. He wanted Anna, and if that meant accepting that she thought she could talk to spirits, then that's what he'd do.

"Okay Anna, I believe you. I can't see anyone there myself, but I believe you. Has she spoken to you, has she told you what she wants"?

Anna cocked her head sideways for a second, then shook it. "What do you mean calm down, you're not even really here." She paused for a few more seconds then snorted. "Well of course, that makes perfect sense."

Kristoff knew that there was a look of complete confusion on his face, as his eyes tracked back and forth between Anna's face and the empty chair, using the pauses in her conversation to try and discern anything about this phantom person that was talking to her.

"Anna?" he finally asked, a questioning note in his voice that couldn't be ignored and her face finally turned towards him.

"She says she's a spirit, here to help me, well Elsa and me, well Elsa, Rapunzel and me with something. Oh and according to her we're related."

"What?"

"Oh yeah," she paused then looked at the chair again. "What is your name anyway?"

"Okay, so Pocahontas here says that one of her descendants was a sailor whose daughter eventually caught the eye of the king of Corona."

"What? Okay, stop," he said. "Anna this is nuts, even for us. I can deal with palaces made of Ice, and living Snowlems like Olaf, but this is insane. You're talking to thin air, and claiming its your grandmother?"

"Apparently it's further back than that, but yes," Anna said after listening for a few seconds. "Look Kristoff, I know how this sounds, and how it must look.

"I really don't think you do," he responded dryly.

"But I really need you to not freak out okay?" Anna continued over his comments.

"Okay," he said a bit hesitantly.

"Look Pocahontas, is there some way we can make you visible to Kristoff?" Anna asked. "Yeah it would help."

There was a long moment of silence, wherein Kristoff just stood there, unsure of what to do exactly. There he was, standing in the pants he usually wore while sleeping, while his girlfriend talked to an invisible ghost grandma. He chuckled. He couldn't help himself, and that chuckle became a huge roar of laughter that seemed to go on and on.

Anna turned back to the chair. "Yeah, I think he's officially cracked."

* * *

Riding was amazing. That was the new truth of Elsa's existence. Even with her horse still tethered to Eugene's, there was an exhilaration in thundering across the landscape astride a noble steed. The horses weren't exactly moving at full tilt yet either, but the palace horses had been bred for generations for strength and endurance, and even at a steady canter, they moved.

This was exactly the kind of thing Elsa had wanted to experience. The wind in her hair, sun on her face, and if she felt at all guilty about leaving Anna and Kristoff behind, then it was a small an insignificant feeling. After all, what could possibly go wrong in the three days they'd be gone. She decided not to examine that thought too closely, and just to concentrate on the ride itself.

The countryside of Corona was very different from Arendelle. Whereas her nation boasted majestic mountain scenes and cliff sides, Corona had rolling grasslands and fields. She could see for miles from horseback and took in everything with an eagerness that surprised even herself.

She really had been stuck in the palace for too long. A lifetime spent in front of a single window, and now she could see in all directions. It was intoxicating in a way, and she briefly considered abdicating in favour of a lifetime spent on the road. The hooves of her horse, a grand Horse who bore the name Titan with pride thundered as he ran down the road, with Eugene spurring his own horse on a bit more than was strictly necessary if the look on Rapunzel's face was anything to go by.

"You having fun?" her cousin yelled. Even though she was less than six feet away, and riding parallel to Elsa, the amount of noise caused by the three horses was overwhelming and Elsa had to concentrate to be able to hear her.

"Absolutely," she shouted back. "In fact, I may never get off this horse."

Rapunzel's laughter was bell-like and she gave her cousin a wicked look. "Oh you'll change your mind by the time we get where we're going. Eugene, can you slow down for a bit?"

She didn't hear Eugene's response given that he was somewhat ahead of them, but he did slow the horses down to a more sedate pace. As he did, Elsa took a long look around, for just a fraction of a second, something caught in the corner of her eye. She got the impression of someone on horseback, made up of the purest silver. It was only for a fraction of a second though, and Elsa shrugged it off.

"And where is that?" Elsa asked, now that she could take without shouting.

"It's an ancient castle that used to belong to one of my ancestors on my father's side. Legend has it, that one of the Kings battled a dragon for his true love, and when he slew the beast he brought her back to that castle to rule by his side."

"You got all the cool history, didn't you?" Elsa asked. "So why was the castle abandoned. You said that last night?"

"Don't know to be honest. I could have looked it up, but it's more fun this way. I do know that according to legend there's a vast an ancient treasure hiding somewhere in the bowels of the castle. The Dragon's hoard, taken there one coin at a time by my ancestor."

"And it's never been found?"

"So the legend goes. I'm sure we'll find it though. It wouldn't be an adventure if we didn't find some treasure."

"Gotta love that optimism Blondie, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. I never went there myself, but the Stabbingtons did, and according to them the only part of the legend of the castle of the Rodent King that's accurate is the rats."

"The castle of the what now?"

"Oh didn't we mention," Eugene said with a grin. "After it became abandoned, supposedly a giant rat, larger than any that had been seen throughout all of history moved in. The size of a man, or a small pony, he was a vicious, evil rat that attacked anyone who disturbed his nest. At night, you can hear him chortling as he digs through the remains of the old castle's pantry."

"Uh huh," Elsa said in a dry tone. "And how long has he been nibbling on the remains of one castle's pantry?"

"Oh at least two hundred years now. Aren't legends grand?"

"I wouldn't know," Elsa admitted. "Arendelle doesn't have much in the way of abandoned castles, or spooky woods or moorlands where people report strange sightings. Just lots of good, solid people doing what good solid people do to earn a living."

"Well if it helps," Eugene called back from where he sat. "You may be in the process of establishing a legend or two of your own. Even in Corona some of the backroom chatter in taverns talks of the Snow Queen of Arendelle, the mid-summer snowstorm and her palace of ice."

Elsa looked stunned at the revelation. "They're telling stories about me?" It was simultaneously the strangest thing she'd ever heard, and somewhat endearing as well. The notion that people would find what had been a fairly traumatic episode for her a topic of idle bar room gossip and speculation was just plain bizarre to her.

"What do they say about me?" she asked intrigued by the notion, and Rapunzel shrugged.

"Oh the usual things. People wonder if it's true, they add bits and pieces so that their version is more spectacular. A lot of people seem to like the bits with the little golem. Then there's all the stuff about you and Anna," Rapunzel stopped talking so suddenly that Elsa thought she'd perhaps swallowed a bug or something, but to her surprise, Rapunzel just looked embarrassed.

"Anna and I? Rapunzel?" she queried. "What exactly do they say about us?"

"You know," Eugene interjected. "It's just idle gossip, nothing you need to worry about, and honestly, I think you're better off not knowing."

Elsa's eyebrows raised. If there was any combination of words Eugene could have said to put her less at ease, then she couldn't think of what it might have been and she gave her cousin a look that Anna had referred to as her 'scary Queen face'.

Rapunzel lasted three seconds under the look before she sighed. "Just remember, none of its malicious okay? So people hear bits and pieces of the story, and they hear that an act of true love thawed a frozen heart. An act of true love between two royal sisters, and well, people being people an act of true love becomes a different kind of act," she trailed off, looking for all the world like she wished she hadn't said it, and for just a few seconds it completely failed to register with Elsa.

When it did, her face screwed up in a look of disgust. "They know we're sisters right?" she asked in a small, vaguely disturbed voice.

"The actual story, of love and self-sacrifice, that's noble and all, but it doesn't get you a free round of drinks at the local watering hole," Eugene responded gently. "Magic power, and lewdness, that sells. Especially if it's wrong."

"That's sick," Elsa exclaimed. "And you're right, I would have been better off not knowing. Don't ever tell Anna."

The two Coronans exchanged a look and Elsa sighed. "Go ahead Cousin, you might as well drop the other shoe."

"No one's mentioned it to them that I know of, I mean, who would," she said. "But if they're spending the day out and about in Corona, odds are they'll go to a tavern at least once right?"

"Wonderful," she said oppressively. A thought occurred to her, "And if people in Corona are talking about it, I imagine they are elsewhere as well."

"Talking about it," Eugene agreed. "And occasionally writing about it, and there may have been one or two sketches."

"Sketches?" Elsa fairly well squeaked, eyes wide. That was just fantastic, her whole life she had spent trying to be the perfect daughter, the perfect princess and Queen. Aloof, but kind. Stoic but with just a hint of warmth, and less than two months after re-entering public life, apparently she was the centrepiece in an incestuous tale told in bars. She didn't want to think about how Anna would react to having her act of self-sacrifice turned into something base and lewd.

Of course, knowing her sister, she might find the whole thing hilarious.

* * *

"Why are we in the castle's gallery?" Kristoff asked in confusion

"Because Pocahontas says there's a way to have you see through my eyes, and it would help if we're in a place where we're comfortable. I like paintings," Anna explained.

"So this Pocahontas is going to do some mind magic on us?"

Anna cocked her head in a gesture Kristoff had come to associate with her listening to the invisible woman, and was vaguely grateful that the palace was still fairly quiet and that no one else was in the portrait gallery. He was having a hard enough time with this as it was, and he didn't want to consider what some stranger might think if they saw the two of them talking to imaginary people.

"Not quite, apparently she's going to teach us a variation of listening to our hearts to impart special skills. She learned it from," Anna paused and shook her head with a disbelieving smile. "She learned it from a magic Willow Tree she knew when she was alive."

Anna continued to walk only to find herself jerking to a stop as Kristoff had as well. Given that she was holding his hand, and he was far stronger than she was it brought her to a stop as well and she looked back with a question on her face.

"No Anna," he said, almost plaintively. "This is ridiculous. I'm willing to take a lot on faith given how we met, but ghost people, magic willow trees?" There was a certain tone of being hopelessly lost in his voice that Anna found hard to argue with. Unfortunately for Kristoff, Anna wasn't willing to let this go and tugged on his arm again.

"Kristoff, just trust me a little further okay. Either she's right, and you'll be able to see her, or she's wrong and," Anna paused for a second, then took a deep breath. "And I'll ignore her from here on in."

Kristoff shook his head, but it was less in rejection than it was in general annoyance. Of course he'd go just a little further for her, it was just that the situation itself was insane. He finally allowed himself to be tugged along to a set of reading chairs, and Anna guided him into one of them while she took the other. She listened for a moment, then took his hands.

"Okay, according to her, you need to get in tune with me. I need you to take a deep breath, close your eyes, and listen to my voice. Not with your ears," she clarified. "But with your heart."

"I have no idea how to listen with my heart."

"yes you do Kristoff," she said, and there was a core of steel in her voice, and a bright, shining smile on her lips. An absolute certainty in her words that would have done a zealot proud. "You did it every time you stuck with me rather than running off. You listened with your heart every time you thought something crazy was happening and helped me anyway. You did it when you came charging across a fjord that was breaking up, to save me."

Kristoff relaxed into the chair trying to focus on her voice, and not on the soft hands in his own. He took a deep breath and let Anna's voice wash over him as she recalled all the times she felt he'd listened to her, not just with his head but with his heart. He thought about how he was concerned for the young Princess, even as he questioned her judgement, and how she trusted his judgement when he told her to jump off a cliff. He thought of their trip to the Trolls, both during the thaw and after it.

He felt a breeze, but ignored it as he was deep inside the castle. However the breeze refused to be ignored, quickly escalating into a properly strong wind, and Kristoff's eyes snapped open as a whirlwind seemed to descend on the gallery with the two of them at the center.

"What the hell?" he demanded, and even as he did, he caught something out of the corner of his eyes. It was a woman wearing beads and buckskins, and softly he began to hear chanting. He repeated himself silently, as the woman seemed to shimmer into place.

"Hey Hey Na To Ra, you will understand. Listen with your heart, and you will understand," the woman stopped singing and looked at him. "Can you see me?" she asked, her voice throaty and soft, but with a hint of mischief in it.

"Uh," was Kristoff's very articulate response. A quick elbow from Anna knocked him out of it. "Yes, yes I can see you now."

"Good, because time is running out. A dark Queen has risen, and you're all in terrible danger."

* * *

Being in a foreign city shouldn't have been this boring, Merida thought to herself as she munched on an apple and walked through the city of Corona. Her target was the south gate which lead to the bridge which would get her out and into the countryside for a few hours. Duncan, restless after having been on a boat for several weeks trotted along beside her as there was a city ordinance forbidding ridden horses inside the gates, excepting the city watch's steeds.

She had arrived late last night, and had spent the night fretfully tossing and turning in an unfamiliar bed, before finally giving up once the sun rose and going for a walk. However her little Wisp friend had disappeared the moment she'd walked off the boat, and had yet to make a reappearance. With no idea of what she was supposed to do here, and not knowing anyone in the city, she had spent most of the day exploring trying to find out what she could about anything going on that would have required her intervention.

What she'd found however, was a basically happy town. She'd apparently missed a party the day before to honour the arrival of some foreign royals, and all anyone could talk about was how great it was that the Coronan princess had her relatives visiting. The conversation bored Merida to tears as they went on and on about some story of how the prince had rescued the princess, or how the foreign princess had been saved by her sister. Honestly, with everyone saving everyone here already, she wondered what on earth she was doing here.

So she had decided to go for a ride. Duncan deserved to stretch his legs properly, and riding was always a great way to get rid of the boredom. She'd asked some of the locals once they'd gotten off the topic of all the happy princes and princesses and been given a map and some directions to some decent riding around the city, and had picked a route that would give her the lay of the local land before depositing her back at the main gate for nightfall.

As she passed through the main gate-way she glanced at the doors and wondered just how long it had been since Corona had been in a real fight. Those doors were large and heavy enough, but they seemed more ornamental to her than practical. Her father would have had some no doubt scathing and hilarious words to say about a castle gate that flimsy, and compared to DunBroch, they might as well have been made of paper.

She put the thought aside as she had no business telling anyone how to run a castle, let alone how to protect it. Finally having reached the bridge, she tossed the apple core into a nearby bush that lined the bridge and climbed up on Duncan's back.

It was time to ride.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when three people on horseback finally came to a halt. Elsa thought to herself that Rapunzel had not been kidding. The transcendent joy of riding had somewhat worn away over the course of the day, and her backside ached. Her cousin had promised her it would feel worse in the morning, but that she had a remedy for that and was going to make up a poultice of some sort to dull the inevitable ache.

Despite that, Elsa had enjoyed the day. The countryside of Corona was magnificent and the few places they'd stopped enroute had been filled with friendly locals. It was an interesting experience for Elsa as she had made a point of just introducing herself as Elsa, sans title, and Rapunzel and Eugene had been happy enough to play along. Neither of them could blend in quite so easily, but despite how big the celebration had been in the capital, outside of it no one really knew who Elsa of Arendelle was.

It was strangely liberating after a lifetime of being defined by her title, to be able to walk amongst people who treated her no different than any other person on the street. Well, any other person in the company of possibly the two most famous faces in the kingdom, but still.

They'd restocked on fresh food and then made their way to a cliff side, whereupon Elsa had gotten her first glimpse of their destination. Mingled in with the smells of the grassland they'd just ridden across and the salty spray of the ocean far below them stood their target. The massive, ancient and obviously ill maintained wreckage of what once must have been a grand castle built high on the cliff.

During its glory days, it must have commanded a view across the ocean that would have been spectacular on any day, and especially on a clear day such as it was. From where they were now, they could see for miles out to sea, and Elsa spotted the occasional white of sails in the distance as the horses trotted them closer and closer to the Castle of the Rat King. She gazed out over the sea and grass, and for just a fraction of a second, she saw an image of something silver out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head, but saw nothing. Twice now she'd had that strange sensation, and while she wasn't yet prepared to wonder what was going on, something definitely was.

Moving closer, Elsa marveled at the structure she saw before her. Despite having crafted a castle made of ice not too long ago, there was something about the ancient wreckage that moved Elsa deeply. A sense of history that only things that had lasted for centuries if not longer possessed. Even in its dilapidated state, it was still larger than both the palaces in Arendelle and Corona, and her castle of ice put together.

With the sun heading towards the horizon over the ocean, the three of them quickly made camp near the lower part of the castle. Even though they'd planned to spend the entire next day exploring the castle, Elsa really wanted to take a quick look around at least part of it today. There was just no way she'd be able to sleep that night with this big giant mystery right next to her without at least having poked her toe into the metaphorical waters.

The entrance nearest to where they'd camped appeared to be an old service entrance. The door was jammed, but a quick boot from Eugene solved that problem as the ancient wood splintered and cracked before falling apart. He hefted a backpack onto his shoulder and gestured forward to Rapunzel and Elsa.

"Ladies," he offered and Elsa immediately took a step forward into the darkness, lighting the torch that Eugene had brought with him. Unlike herself, Rapunzel and Eugene had been prepared for this trip, and their backpack contained all sorts of useful things like torches, rope and somewhat incongruously, a pair of frying pans. Honestly, Elsa had been afraid to ask what the story was between the obviously well used pans.

The entrance way took them through a dark corridor, and past what appeared to be a kitchen and storage area. The dust covering things suggested they'd been like that for a long time.

"So much for the Rat King," Rapunzel said, an almost disappointed note in her voice. "I doubt even a rat would want to eat some of this stuff."

"Try not to sound so disappointed blondie," Rapunzel said. "Less rats is a good thing in my book."

"They might have been cute, like a little mouse," Rapunzel argued.

"There's no such thing as a cute rat," Eugene responded. He'd seen plenty of rats in his life, both at the orphanage and from his years on the road as a con man and thief. Rats invoked a special kind of disgust in him as they represented everything he was glad he'd left behind when he'd married Rapunzel.

"How would you know, you've never seen this rat king."

Elsa tuned the two of them out as they bickered like an old married couple, which aside from the age they were. Her eyes were drawn to the walls of the corridor they were walking through. The large wide brickwork appeared to have been adorned with art, and if it wasn't anything she recognised, it was still intriguing.

"These carvings are amazing," Elsa said as she walked close to one of the walls. The intricate circular designs had been etched into virtually every brick. She was about to comment on them when a huge thundering boom echoed through the castle, and the floor disappeared out from under her.

Elsa fell screaming, even as she heard Rapunzel and Eugene calling out her name, the snow Queen bounced off the wall of the pit she'd fallen into and slammed her head hard. As the darkness overtook her, her last thought was that she'd been having such a good time.

* * *

Tobias was an average man in many ways. Farmer, widower, father and grandfather, he had lived a good solid, if unspectacular life, and he had done so largely on his own terms. To him that meant being kind to others, showing respect to those that had earned it, and loyalty to the crown of Corona. He sat on his porch in the summer sun as it began to set beyond the hills, and considered the weather and clouds, the way an old man was on occasion inclined to do, and took a long drag from his pipe.

He liked his place, it was a single-story house on a main road to the capital, and it gave him the best of all worlds. He could spend his twilight years enjoying the good weather that the semi-tropical country he called home basked in, and yet he was close enough to Corona itself that he could visit his family or go to the celebration that was held annually for Princess Rapunzel.

He chuckled lightly to himself as he considered the bizarre tale that was told of her return in the bars of the Capital. It was a dramatic story, but he doubted the more fantastical elements, especially as their seemed to be more of them with every retelling. For that matter, his friends were telling the latest bawdy tale just last night, this one about the cousins of the Princess who had arrived. Apparently the foreign queen was a witch, it was all very dramatic when Jacob was telling the story, but he was pretty sure the bit about the giant ice monster was a complete fabrication.

He was jogged from his thoughts when he saw movement coming round a bend in the road, and his eyes narrowed. He didn't see quite as sharply as he did in his younger days, but even so he could see clearly enough to spot the single person coming down the road. He was obviously dusty from travel, and he seemed to be talking to himself and Tobias shook his head. Mad dogs and Englishmen were the only people who came out in the noonday sun in his view, and not even they would be walking the road this close to evening, and he got up and walked towards the road.

"Hail," he called out as the man stumbled closer, and he got a good look at him. His clothes looked fancy, for all that they were dusty, and the man himself had a certain regal bearing. Red hair and sideburns topped a freckled and mildly sunburned head and the man's head snapped round to him as if he hadn't even been aware that Tobias had approached him. A hand dropped to the sword on his waist for half a second, before the same hand was raised in a wave.

"Oh, hi," the stranger responded. "I'm lost, I don't suppose you could tell me where I am?"

Tobias eyed him a mite suspiciously, before shrugging. It didn't sound right, but he figured that a man had the right to his secrets. "Sure, you're on the main road to Corona. Maybe half a day that way," he explained pointing towards the castle in the distance. "You don't look like you're well provisioned for another half day on the road though, and you'll be pretty much out of daylight in another hour or so."

The stranger chuckled at that, and it was a smooth practiced sound. "You are right about that my good man. My name is Hans, and I had to take off rather suddenly. If I'm on the road to Corona than I'm at least headed in the right direction. My goal is a bit further."

Tobias gave him another look. This Hans looked like he'd been run out of town, and given his looks he suddenly had an inkling as to how a well to do young man might find himself chased out of one of the hamlets on the road. He was a father after all. Still, the man wouldn't make it to Corona without some food and drink, and Tobias was many things but he wasn't heartless enough to let him go on without at least some water.

"I'm Tobias," the old man responded. "Well why don't you come in for a spell. I've not got much, but I'll share what I've got with a weary traveller."

"Thanks, but I couldn't…" he trailed off for a moment and then put a hand on the side of his head. "Really? Okay. I'd love to take you up on that offer."

"Son, have you been out in this heat all day, because you're acting a bit squirrely," Tobias asked with an owlish look at the younger man. He had certainly worked the land long enough to know that the heat could do all sorts of unfortunate things to a person if they were out there for long enough, and If the young man had been chased out of some girls house by an irate father, he might well have been out for most of the day.

Hans laughed again, but it wasn't quite as jovial a sound this time round as he followed Tobias back into his house and into the kitchen. The older man poured a glass from a jug and pulled some bread and a jar of jam from a cupboard. Hans eat in silence, but the way he devoured the bread and jam suggested it had been a long day for the younger man.

"You know," Hans said as he finished the glass of water. "That really hit the spot. Almost makes me regret what's coming next."

A chill went down Tobias' spine as he heard the tone of voice, and he very quietly and nonchalantly reached for the butchers knife hanging on the wall.

"Oh don't be like that. You really think that a knife is going to stop me?" Hans said with a smile. Tobias shook his head, it might look like a smile, but there was something predatory about the way the young man was sitting, relaxed on his chair looking at him as if he was a particularly tasty morsel. "Funny story really, this morning I was in the Southern Isles, but my new benefactor knows this trick for fast travelling. She calls it Shadow Stepping, but boy does it take it out of you."

He got to his feet, and Tobias swung the knife, only to find Hans was far faster than him. The young prince blocked the strike and brought his other arm down on the arm holding the knife, and it clattered to the ground as Tobias staggered back, clutching his hand in pain.

"Why are you doing this?" he demanded. "I did you a kindness."

"You did," Hans agreed, sweeping up the knife and casually discarding it onto the table where he had eaten. "And if it were just me, I'd have probably let you go, I'm a pragmatist after all. I'll kill a person if they're in my way, or my plans require it, but casual murder isn't really my style. My benefactor however has less moral issues with it and she says she needs minions, and you'll do as well as anyone."

Tobias snorted in derision. "And she picked me. An old man with arthritic hands and bad eyesight?" he actually laughed at the absurdity of it and Hans joined him for a second, causing the old man to stop instantly.

"Normally you'd be right," Hans said as the room began to grow dark even though there was sunlight shining in through the windows. "But Maleficent has this trick, where she takes a person, any person really, and turns their darkest thoughts against them. She makes you experience every dark thought, every hateful feeling, every wrong desire you've ever had, and when your heart can't take any more?"

The shadows seemed to reach out and envelop Tobias' arms and legs, rooting him to the ground even as he tried to struggle. He couldn't even see the windows anymore, the room had become so dark. He could still see Hans though, and the look on his face was a terrible one. It might technically have been a smile, but it was dark and evil.

A single tendril of shadow reached out over the heart of the old man, and he stood firm. "Well then you become something else. You become hers, a creature of darkness and shadow that obeys her in all things. Evil in word and deed, if truth be told and every act you do only makes it worse. Or so she's just explained it to me."

Tobias still couldn't quite believe this was happening, but if it was then he would go to his end the same way he'd lived his life. Stoically and with pride and glared at the young prince. He did hope, futile though it probably was, that this was merely a very effective nightmare and that he'd soon wake up from it. "You won't get away with this. Someone will stop you."

Hans ran a hand through his hair. "You know, people keep saying that to me, but here I am anyway."

The tendril of darkness oozed up the chest of Tobias and in through his mouth and nose, and despite his intentions, the old man screamed in agony. The sound went on and on for minutes before it slackened off. By then, his skin had first gone pale grey, then dark until it was a formless black, and his body slumped to the ground.

For a moment everything was still, and then the body of Tobias moved, slowly getting up on all fours, and it looked at Hans and the shadow in the room with brainless, obedient eyes.

Hans walked over and sat down on his haunches, examining the creature before looking up into the enveloping shadow. "So did you get what you need?"

A voice, silky smooth and filled with menace replied. "Oh yes, and he's only the first. While we get the staff, the first of my new Heartless will begin laying siege on Corona."

TBC.


	6. Chapter 5: Puzzles, Ghosts and Monsters

Author's note: First an apology, this chapter was supposed to have been posted on Friday. However I spent most of the last week puking my guts out, and to be honest everything between Tuesday an Sunday evening is a bit of a blur. So if this chapter, and the next one which I will try and get out by this Friday, seem a bit unpolished, that's why. Hopefully the normal schedule will resume this week.

Fun fact: Frozen not only won both the Oscar's it was nominated for, but it did so on the same night it passed the billion dollars in ticket sales, putting it in a very select category of movies. Go Frozen.

Chapter 6: Puzzles and Ghosts and Monsters, oh my!

* * *

"Elsa," Rapunzel shouted, leaping towards her cousin who fell into the darkness, and only Eugene's quick reactions held Rapunzel back from tumbling down the hole as well. Before she had a chance to catch her breath she heard a sound that would no doubt haunt her nightmares for years to come as stone sheared and snapped under the pressure of weight it was never meant to hold. Whatever had brought the floor down, had also cracked one of the load bearing supports, and the entire ceiling began to collapse.

"Move Rapunzel," Eugene shouted as he dragged his wife backwards. Stone and masonry was beginning to come down in larger chunks, and the hallway was clogged with dust. It was a miracle their torches were still lit.

"Elsa, we can't leave her," she shouted at him, fighting Eugene every step of the way. For all that, she was still being pulled backwards. She was a strong woman, a lifetime of carrying around seventy feet of hair had left its mark, and even now she was stronger than an average person. Eugene however was working out of desperation for his wife. Between the two there was no match in strength.

"And we can't help her if we get crushed," he shouted as he pulled her clear of the collapsing section of the corridor. It took the better part of a minute for the rest of the debris to come down, and Eugene and Rapunzel could do nothing but stare in horror.

"I'm sorry Rapunzel," Eugene said, and to his surprise found his wife clear eyed. He'd been expecting tears.

"It's okay Eugene, I know why you did it." Rapunzel turned her face to her husbands and kissed him lightly on the lips. "But we need to find her. We can't go back through that without gear, so we've got to find another way to the lower floor. Come on, we'd better hurry."

Eugene got up following his wife and couldn't help the surprise in his voice. "Hon, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Eugene, we've got to find Elsa."

"Slow down Rapunzel," Eugene said grabbing her by the arm and turning her around to face him. His tone softened, as he didn't like what he was about to say, he just felt he needed to say it anyway. "I hate to say it, but we have no idea how far she fell, or what fell on top of her. She could be hurt, or worse."

"She's not dead," the princess responded, and Eugene's own thoughts slithered to a halt as he took in his wife's body language and eyes.

"You're sure about that aren't you," he said, a touch of amazement as he realised the truth. There was an absolute certainty about her that struck him as unbelievable considering that a castle corridor had just collapsed on Elsa. He was no expert at castle design, and he knew exactly how survivable even a large fall was, but even so there was a very real chance that Elsa had been hurt or killed, and Rapunzel didn't believe it for a moment.

"What?" she asked, slightly confused.

"No I mean it, you're absolutely sure she's okay, I can see it in your eyes. Rapunzel, something strange is going on. Castle's don't just collapse, and you should be more worried."

She looked stunned as he said it, and she thought about it, but didn't disagree. "You're right, I should be. But somehow I'm absolutely sure that Elsa isn't in any life-threatening danger. It's like someone is whispering in my ear, but I can't quite hear them." She cocked her head, as if trying to hear something specific, but all she could hear was the sound of the two of them breathing.

"That's pretty weird, even for you," Eugene finally said, a somewhat diffident tone in his voice.

Rapunzel gave him a smile, not the smile that she had for her parents, or the grin she usually wore when meeting her subjects or new people. She gave him the smile that was just for him. A smile that was filled with love and caring, with just a hint of mischief. "But you love me anyway," she said confidently.

He grinned at her. "That I do, let's go find Elsa."

* * *

A life spent almost entirely in a single room trying to control her powers had left Elsa bereft of many experiences young people might take for granted. However she did have access to an entire castle, and her parents had made a point of bringing in the best teachers they could find for almost any topic she took an interest in. She supposed It was a way of making up for the fact that she was stuck in a room most of the time. Her interest in geometry for instance, had come from a boredom relieving trip to the library. Her experiences were no doubt different from even her royal peers in other nations, but she had never particularly felt like she had lacked in interesting experiences in life.

In contrast to the many things she had done, however, there were many that she had not. One that Elsa had never personally been through was waking up with her head on fire. She was fairly sure, in fact, that her head wasn't actually on fire at the moment, but for all the world it felt like it should be. She groaned as she tried to move her head, and without bothering to go to the effort of opening her eyes, she began to catalogue how she felt. Her left leg ached, and she was fairly sure she'd scraped one of her shins. But other than that and a headache that demanded a certain respect, she didn't appear to be in bad state.

She tried to sit up, bracing on her right side, and the world seemed to swim behind her eyes, which was no small feat as she still had them closed. There was the sound of motion near her, and Elsa forced her eyes open. A hooded figure was approaching her, and with the light from a small lantern being where it was, all she could see under the hood was shadow.

She tried to summon the ice to her, a defensive reaction to perceived threat, but the instant she felt the power begin to swirl, her headache exploded into something far worse, and she nearly lost her lunch before collapsing back onto the ground.

"Easy now," the hooded figure said as he came and dropped to a knee near her. "You took a nasty fall."

"Who are you?" Elsa managed to ask after a few moments, the headache subsiding quickly as long as she didn't reach for her powers. "And where are my friends?"

"Can't say as I know about any friends, you kinda dropped out of the sky on top of me," the hooded figure responded conversationally.

Elsa gave him an apologetic look. "The floor collapsed out from under me, it wasn't intentional."

"Oh I know," he said as he reached for a water pouch. He passed it to her and Elsa took it gratefully. "God knows I was just trying to blow the door off its hinges. I didn't expect the explosion to bring the roof down too."

Elsa lowered the water pouch and gave him a glare to replace the vaguely apologetic look she had been giving him. "You did that?"

"Yup," he responded, ignoring the accusing tone in her voice. "Brought down the ceiling, blocked off the tunnel I came through and trapped us between a literal rock and a hard place, in this case a door that's locked. "

There was a moment of silence while Elsa considered this. Despite the fact that she should be concerned, his complete indifference to the situation was almost calming. "You seem oddly cheerful about that."

"No point in grousing about it. Was it my best idea ever? No, probably not, but what's done is done," he explained, before moving back to the door with a set of tools. Elsa had to admit he had a fair point. Most people she'd known wouldn't have found it that easy to just shrug and move on from their mistakes. Certainly she herself wasn't anywhere near that good at it.

"My friends, Rapunzel and Eugene, do you have any idea if they're okay?," she said after a moments silence while the stranger who Elsa realised hadn't even given her a name yet worked on the door.

She was met with silence.

"I'm Qu…. I'm Elsa," she tried again, suddenly unsure as to why she hadn't included her title. From the way he'd stopped moving, he'd obviously noticed her hesitation, but like before he didn't seem inclined to comment. It was strange though, but here was quite possibly the first person she'd met in her entire life who didn't relate to her as a Queen. The whole point of this trip had been to explore the world that had been denied to her by both her powers and her titles, and here was an opportunity to be Elsa for a few hours before she had to take up her royal mantle again.

She was dressed fairly normally, and had quite intentionally left her royal regalia back at the palace, and so she didn't mention any more than her name to this person who had no expectations of her, nor any preconceptions based on rank or privilege. Still, the silence was annoying, and if she couldn't pull rank, then she would simply outlast him.

"Seriously, they could be hurt by that explosion, and I don't think the people of Corona will be happy if their Crown Princess and her husband end up hurt. For that matter, I wouldn't be thrilled by it either. We've been travelling together and I rather need them to be alright. "

"You know, you probably shouldn't volunteer too much information or who you're travelling with, especially if they're royalty," the stranger finally replied as he put away one set of tools and grabbed another set, similar but differently sized and poked them into the keyhole of the locked door. "I could be anyone, a kidnapper or axe murderer perhaps. I could hear that you're travelling with royalty and decide to hold you for ransom."

Elsa snorted inelegantly. Her powers might not be behaving at the moment, but she had no doubt that they'd soon be back, and even if they weren't back soon, she really wasn't afraid of one man with his back turned to her. "But you're not going to do any of that are you?"

He stopped what he was doing and turned his head towards her and for the first time she got a good look at him under the hood. He had a shock of black hair, and a matching neatly trimmed beard, a small scar ran across his nose. His face could best have been described as very stern. He wouldn't have looked out of place on a wanted poster, or in front of a classroom.

She couldn't make out any other details in the light of a single lantern that was pointing the wrong direction, but it was enough to chase away any last concerns she had. Whatever else he might be, this wasn't a man who was going to hurt her, although the sword on his hip suggested he wasn't entirely averse to violence. She just didn't believe for a moment he'd do that violence to her.

It was the sheepish expression on his face following her statement that did it for her though. "Well no," he finally admitted before turning back to his work. "Frankly, I wouldn't know where to start on kidnapping and ransom demands. I mean, how do you decide how much a person is worth. Too little and you look stupid, too much and they'll probably say no. That doesn't even get into the logistics of how I'd deliver the note, or collect the ransom. It's far too much effort for one guy and his backpack. Still, you should be a little careful spilling information to a stranger."

Elsa couldn't help but smile as he rambled on about the details of organising a kidnapping, taking care of and delivery of a captive. For a few seconds she said nothing and just listened as he thought about the idea, throwing out suggestions to himself before coming up with counterpoints, until he finally settled on the fact that he'd need at least five people to pull off a proper kidnapping, and since there was only one of him, it would simply be impractical. Not perhaps the greatest moral basis for not being a kidnapper, but Elsa was willing to be pragmatic on this point.

He sighed and put away his tools before returning to where she was sitting. "I'm getting nowhere with that lock, and my picks aren't playing nice. Give me a few minutes to think about it, and rest my fingers and I'll try again."

"So what is your name?" Elsa asked again.

"Persistent aren't you?" he countered as he pulled some bread out of a bag he'd put near the lantern and took a bite out of it, offering another chunk to her. "Why do you want to know?"

She took the bread but didn't begin eating it right away. "Because we're trapped in a tiny room together, my conversational options are limited to myself and you, and calling you 'Hey you' is going to get really annoying," Elsa answered honestly and he chuckled at that.

"Well in that case, call me Flynn."

Elsa said nothing for a moment, although she was quite sure the scepticism was showing. "Flynn?"

"Yup," came the response.

"As in Flynn Rider?" she repeated in a disbelieving tone. She'd never read the books herself, but she'd heard the basics from Rapunzel after the coronation and about how Eugene had adopted the persona from a set of children's novels.

"Ah, you've heard of me?" he said in a tone that was half amused, half resigned.

"Something like that. You don't look anything like your wanted posters, Eugene showed me one." Elsa would be the first to admit she didn't get Eugene's sense of humor, and why the former conman took such glee in keeping several of his old wanted posters, framed and behind glass in his room was beyond her.

He just gave her a look. "I get that a lot."

Elsa shook her head and slowly got to her feet. Her headache already felt much better and she walked over to the door. "Well then 'Flynn', since we do need to get out of here, let me give it a try."

He turned his head, even though he didn't move from where he was sitting. "Oh, you pick locks?" he asked waving his tools at her. She ignored him and approached the closed door.

"Nope," Elsa responded cheerfully. "Never tried before in my life."

"So do you want some tools or?" he questioned as she walked up to the door, seemingly bare-handed.

Elsa ignored his comments and tried to concentrate. Ever since she'd gained control of her powers, she'd been practicing, both with the big uses of her powers such as mass ice creation, and with smaller detail work, such as some miniature ice statues she'd been making of Anna and herself. The former was good to test her endurance and the upper limits of her powers, but the latter was good for fine control and multi-tasking. In doing so, she'd learned a lot about how to manipulate the ice, and she took a deep breath.

She hoped what she was about to try would work.

Triggering only a very slight use of her powers, her headache got worse but not much, and she pressed her palm against the keyhole, allowing ice to fill up the interior of the lock. Once she was sure it was completely solid, she concentrated and removed a small amount of ice from around all the edges until she had both the shape of the interior and enough room to move it. She removed more ice, from the outside moving in until she had something the shape of a key, with ice the shape of the tumblers in the lock. The ice had been shaped by the form of the lock itself, and should be a perfect fit.

She pulled back her hand and created a small grip for the icy key, and turned it, the door giving a satisfying click as the lock disengaged. She dismissed the ice quickly as she heard the man behind her scramble to his feet. For different reason than why she'd neglected to give him her title, she didn't particularly want him to know about her powers. Her father had once said that having a secret was like having an advantage, once you gave it up you could never get it back, and here in Corona she had been somewhat circumspect about her powers.

"How did you do that, and without tools?" he asked, his face and tone completely shocked.

Elsa smirked at him. "Oh come now, I'm not going to volunteer that kind of information. You might be an axe murderer after all."

He looked at her for a long moment, and then his face broke into a grin. It was the first time he'd properly grinned at her, and it made his face look much less stern. "Oh touché Elsa, touché."

Elsa looked him up and down, "Well Flynn Rider, go grab your bag and let's go. I've got my friends to find."

He responded to the snap in her voice by grabbing his backpack and lantern and hopping to his feet. He walked up to her and to Elsa's amazement threw an arm over her shoulder and stared into the dark tunnel. "Alrighty then. A dark tunnel in an abandoned castle. Should be fun."

Without waiting for a response, he sauntered off into the tunnel, using the lantern for light, and Elsa just shook her head briefly before following. It was only a few minutes later that she realised she hadn't flinched when he put an arm on her shoulder.

* * *

"And that's the story," Pocahontas finished, close to an hour after she'd started explaining the backstory of Maleficent, and why she had returned. Anna's eyes were almost comically wide, while Kristoff's had never stopped being sceptical and he shook his head. The sun had since set, and the gallery was only lit by the chandelier and candles.

"Just so we're clear. There's an ancient evil witch queen that's upset because her own plans backfired and got her killed. Now she wants revenge on the descendants of the child she failed to kill in the first place, and you are also somehow related to this family and are here to protect us?"

Pocahontas merely nodded. "Essentially correct. Except I am not the only one here. It's just taking more time for the others to manifest as they are not quite as in tune with their spiritual natures as I am. Some of them would no doubt have been drawn to the Sun and the Snow, as I was to you, the Spirit." She nodded

"Explain that to me again," Anna said. Pocahontas looked at the young woman in surprise. The commanding tone in her voice was something she hadn't heard yet. Kristoff recognised it though, he'd heard it before when Anna had more or less ordered him to come with her to North Mountain in exchange for supplies. For better or worse, Anna had been raised a royal, and she knew that there was a time to be normal, to goof around and joke, and a time to step up and make decisions.

"I can't," Pocahontas said, an apologetic look on her face.

"Can't?" Anna said, her eyebrows raised. "You're here to warn us about great danger but you can't explain the nicknames. I mean sure, Elsa is obviously snow, and Corona's princess being the sun is about as obvious as it gets, but why am I the Spirit? I mean it's not as if I'm any more spiritual than anyone else, and what does that even mean anyway. Are we talking spirit as in the spirit of adventure, or having lots of spirited discussion,-"

"Breathe Anna," Kristoff muttered, and Anna stopped talking for a second before giving him a grateful look.

"I am sorry, but I can't tell you that," Pocahontas said again. "There are reasons that I hope I can explain to you, but for the moment all I can tell you is that the three of you are each unique and important in your own way."

The ghostly figure, etched and edged in silver looked back at the two mortals, before Anna stood up. "Well, I don't know about magic and ghosts and ancient evils, but if there's something happening that needs all three of us, then we'd better go find Elsa and Rapunzel."

"Uh, Anna?" Kristoff asked, but Anna didn't notice.

"Pocahontas, you're invisible to everyone else right? In that case can you stick close while we find them. Then we can figure this whole thing out."

"Anna?" Kristoff tried again. "Elsa, Rapunzel and Eugene aren't in the palace."

"What?" Anna asked in surprise, and Kristoff winced.

"I forgot to mention, Eugene came by early this morning. The three of them were going to go visit some old abandoned castle, said they'd be back in a few days."

"Oh come one," Anna whined. "There's a big evil loosed in the world, we've got an epic quest to stop it and they've gone camping?"

"Well, it's not exactly camping," Kristoff began, but Anna gave him a glare.

Kristoff was about to say something more when Anna chuckled. "Not your fault Kristoff, I'm just a little annoyed. I love Elsa, but she can be a stinker at times," she finally said. "Kristoff, can you get us some horses. I'll let the King know that we're going after them. Did Eugene tell you where they were going?"

"Uh," he responded, thinking back. "Some abandoned castle by the cliffs about a day to the south."

"Great," Anna said, smile still firmly in place. "Pocahontas, can you give me any further,-" her voice cut off as she looked round to find it was just the two of them in the library. There was no sight nor sound of their mysterious visitor.

"Crap!"

* * *

"You can't figure it out, can you?" Elsa asked, a single eyebrow raised as she and Flynn stared at the door with half a dozen different symbols on it. It was a puzzle lock, that much was obvious, and it blocked the next section of the corridor.

"Not as yet no," he responded. His gaze was intent on the door and he seemed to be staring at it without blinking. "I said I'd figure this one out without blowing it up with the German black powder. Just, give me a minute okay?"

Elsa leaned back against the wall, a smile on her face. She believed she had figured it out. Whatever his good qualities might be, the man calling himself Flynn was obviously not a studious person. The door he'd tried to blow up before had been another puzzle door, and he'd blow the puzzle up in frustration when he couldn't solve it. For all the terseness of his answers, he'd explained that much. Elsa had no idea if she might have been able to figure it out, but she had spent a lot of time in her youth studying, and one of the things she'd studied were logic puzzles.

She wondered if his lack of social graces was due to the fact that he didn't seem used to having company.

"Maybe," he muttered as he reached out and touched a pair of the symbols, only for nothing to happen. "Okay, that's not it," he pulled a piece of scrap paper and a pencil out of his bag and began making notes.

It was strange, Elsa thought. The existence of these doors made no sense to her. She said as much, to the predictable lack of response. It wasn't that Flynn couldn't be chatty, but there seemed to be plenty of topics he just had no interest in talking about. "You know, I'd expect a person to not have these kinds of puzzles if you were hiding something you needed quickly, or in an emergency. If you were just sealing up something nasty, then why not just seal it up entirely. Why leave a chink in the defences that someone could get through?"

When he again said nothing, she decided silence was probably the best idea anyway. She'd give him another minute before telling him the solution, she'd decided when he surprised her.

"Don't stop talking," he said as he continued to make notes. "I like listening to you talk. Been on my own for too long so I'm a bit rusty at small talk. Besides, I'm curious to see if you reach the same conclusion I do as to why these doors exist."

Elsa was a bit startled at that, and began to think furiously, even as she tried to ignore his comments about liking listening to her. She spent the minute she'd allocated as his remaining time to figure out the door thinking, and she did it out loud for his benefit. Finally after the minute was up, she glanced at him.

"It's a prime number lock," she said, and his head snapped up to look at the door.

"I'll be damned, so it is," he said a minute later. "That's two-nil for you Elsa."

"Thanks, and I think I know why I'd build a puzzle door or several. It's hiding a secret."

He took a long look at her and then raised an eyebrow. "A secret? That's awfully specific. Why that?"

"Because if it was treasure, then you'd need a way in that an average person who might need access could use. A court banker or treasurer or Seneschal. If it was meant to never be seen again, you wouldn't bother with puzzles. You'd just brick it up, and if you wanted to protect something but needed it in an emergency, you'd have it closer to where you spend most of your day, and you'd only have one puzzle protecting it," she explained, ticking off the options on her fingers. "But if you had something you wanted to keep secret, but had no idea if you'd ever need it again, you'd hide it behind doors with puzzles that only you, or someone who thinks a lot like you could get through. It'd be safe, but completely hidden."

He pulled open the door, "I think that's three for you."

* * *

Merida was just on her way back to Corona from her ride when she spotted something odd. She was an accomplished hunter and bowman in her own right, and she could usually either identify an animal by their gait, or at least get a feel for whether it was predator or prey, hunting or just moving about. It was a skill honed from years of observing animals while riding around on Duncan, and what she had spotted set of all her internal alarms.

She angled Duncan towards the thing, and drew her bow. It was probably an unnecessary precaution, but it made her feel better, and the closer she came the more she was glad she had both bow in hand and a sword on her belt.

"Goddamit," she breathed. The 'thing' was human. It was stooped over, moving with a gait that seemed to be half falling, half running, as if it couldn't quite walk properly. It was wearing clothes, and what she could see of its skin was an oily black. It noticed her very quickly as she came in range, and its head snapped round to her, hissing, yellow eyes staring a hole into her.

The arrow loosed from her bow without a moment's hesitation. She had never scared easily, but there was something about the soulless eyes staring back at her that chilled her down to her very soul. The arrow shot across the intervening distance, and her aim was true. It buried itself into the things chest, knocking it to the ground and Merida breathed a sigh of relief.

It only lasted long enough for the thing to sit back up again with a lurch, yank the arrow out, and toss it away. From what she could see, despite the arrowhead having been embedded in its chest, she had done it no noticeable damage. Duncan was still at full gallop, and the distance closed rapidly as she dropped the bow back into the brace built into the saddle and drew her sword.

The sword didn't mean quite as much to her as the bow did, but it had been with her almost as long. Unlike bows which tended to grow with their users, a child's bow being useless to an adult, the sword was the same one her father had given her years ago, and it came out of the scabbard with a satisfying sound of metal on metal.

She released Duncan and braced herself in the saddle and as they came within feet of the hissing thing, she nudged Duncan with a knee to that he sharply turned and she fairly well leapt out of the saddle. She flew through the air, and the blade hammered into the man's chest biting deep. She hit the ground and used the momentum to roll forward pulling the sword clear.

Under other circumstances she might have taken a moment, but this thing had already shrugged off an arrow, she wasn't willing to take chances. Especially here, with numerous homes dotted around the landscape, there was no way she could allow this thing to continue roaming. However when she spun round in a guard position, she was horrified, if unsurprised, to see that there was no noticeable damage to the monster.

"This, is going to be bad," she muttered to herself as the thing hissed at her again. She had never met the man named Tobias, nor had any clue who he might have been. Right now, she was only focussed on the fact that she was fighting something that she couldn't seem to hurt.

She couldn't be sure of course, but this seemed like the kind of thing she would have been here for. The Wisp's reason for dragging her across the ocean revealed at last, since if there was anyone in the world that had some experience with un-killable monsters of darkness, it was probably her. Mor'Du after all had been virtually immune to normal weapons as well. She glanced around but didn't see any convenient pillars of stone she could arrange to have drop on this things head.

It would be the hard way then. Merida let out a battle cry and leapt towards the thing that had once been a man, and battle was joined.

* * *

"Okay this is getting ridiculous," Elsa said in an exasperated tone as the two of them stood on the edge of what appeared to be a sheer drop. There was maybe forty feet to the other side, and what appeared to be a drawbridge that was raised on the far side as well. "How on earth is someone supposed to get across that?"

"Oh cheer up Elsa. I'm sure that between your brains and your brains," he explained, back turned to her so he didn't see her smirk at that comment. "We can get past this. I'll give that it's going to be interesting though."

"Define interesting?" Elsa demanded.

"Oh God, oh God, we're both going to die?" he said with a grin as he dropped his backpack and lantern on the ground and begun rummaging through the former.

Elsa felt an answering grin tug at her face, but her question wasn't entirely a rhetorical one. At least in theory she could just create a ramp of ice. Her headache and by extension her powers were feeling better and better, but for anyone lacking her specific advantages she couldn't see an easy way across. "Whoever built this castle had issues, no wonder it was abandoned and became the house of the rodent king."

The sudden cessation of movement from Flynn was startling enough that Elsa noticed, and he slowly turned his head to her, eyes wide and trying desperately not to laugh. "What? The house of the rodent king?" The sheer incredulity in his voice was almost comical.

Elsa blushed slightly. Said out loud like that, it did sound a bit silly. "That's what I was told this place was called."

"Kiamo Ko, if you want to be official about it" he stated simply as he began fitting a rope around his arm. She didn't question how he knew the castle's name. A couple of times now he'd surprised her with some bit of esoteric knowledge about the place. He had said it was simply common sense to do your research before plunging into an abandoned and possibly dangerous castle. "It's some dead language phrase and means Watchtower."

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously as she watched him loosely wrap the rope around his arm. One end was anchored around his wrist and the rest looked like it was being wrapped with an eye to easy release.

"I'll show you," he said as he fitted a hook to the other end of the rope and secured it so that the collapsed hook was flush with his wrist. "I may be a bit slow on the uptake for logic puzzles and prime numbers, but this is my kind of endeavour. Watch."

To Elsa's surprise he began climbing up the wooden beams that made up the near-side of the bridge until he had made it to the top. He braced there for a second, and then took a big leap forward. Her heart skipped a beat at the apparently suicidal jump, but then, at the very apex of the jump his arm flashed out and the collapsed hook went flying towards the other side. With the height he'd climbed to, and he didn't have to throw the hook all that far before it solidly embedded itself into the wooden beams on the opposite side, and he used the momentum to swing himself across.

Elsa actually found herself impressed as he lowered the drawbridge for her to come across. "Not bad," she said as she passed him and headed towards the exit at the back of the room. "I make that three to one."

* * *

"Hmm, a dead end," Rapunzel said as she and Eugene reached the end of the corridor. There were various collapsed doorways that might have led to other parts of the castle, but they'd continued on the route they were on, looking for a way down to try and find Elsa, when they'd come across this corridor. Rapunzel had caught a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye, and had followed it down this corridor. She glanced back at Eugene and shrugged her shoulders.

He looked at the corridor, and something didn't ring right with him as he did. "I don't think it is." He passed the torch to her and began checking the wall, until he found what he was looking for. A candleholder that pulled back, and for a second there was a horrible screeching sound. Part of the wall seemed to cave in at the side, and the sound stopped.

"Hmm," Eugene said. Secret tunnel, but obviously it's been collapsed for some time. Here, give me a hand." He braced himself against the partial opening, while Rapunzel grabbed another part and together they pulled. It took them several minutes to wedge the secret passage open far enough to let the two of them slip through, and they found themselves on a stairway heading down. Eugene hoped it was a good sign as they followed it, and he noticed that the two of them had naturally fallen silent.

There was something dark and oppressive about this place, and he couldn't quite place what it was, but it discouraged familiarity and conversation. They made their way down to the bottom and found themselves in an antechamber. Despite himself Eugene took a sharp breath as the two of them looked around.

The chamber was immaculate, despite the fact that they'd been slogging through an inch of dust since they entered the sheltered interior of the old castle. Torches, clearly magical in nature had sprung to life as they entered, bathing the stone room in a soft yellow glow. The chamber was huge. It seemed to have multiple exits leading off into various dark tunnels, and the center of the room contained a large pedestal with a massive eight sided slab of stone on top of it.

Behind the tablet lay a sealed door, that couldn't help but be ominous. Whoever had carved it had obviously planned for people to be disconcerted, as a face, apparently in pain and screaming looked back at them from the stonework.

"I know my ancestors used to live here, but yeesh," Rapunzel said looking at the door. "They definitely had issues."

"No kidding Blondie," Eugene replied before heading into the room and putting their bags down by the large tablet. "This is probably as good a place to take a break as we're likely to find."

They quickly decamped, Eugene grabbing the food and Rapunzel sorting out and reorganising the backpack to take advantage of the extra room without the food in it.

"So, I don't suppose you have any idea which of these tunnels we go down to find Elsa?" he said as there was a sound of rushing wind. Both of them looked round in surprise only to find themselves face to face with a stranger, who had to all appearances popped out of thin air on the other side of the tablet from where they were standing.

"That is quite a rush. I mean it's exhausting, but damn," he said and shook his head as if to clear it. His head came up and there was something dark and evil in his smile. "Now, did I hear you right, did you say you were trying to find Elsa?"

"Who the hell are you?" Eugene snapped, as he took a step forward and put himself between Rapunzel and this strange man. He had seen some very strange things since meeting his bride, but people casually popping out of thin air was straining even his willing suspension of disbelief.

"Me? I'm Hans, and if you know Elsa, and really how many Elsa's am I likely to come across, then I'm not at all sorry for what's about to happen to you."

TBC…


	7. Chapter 6: A Rumble With Royals

Note: Okay, we're more or less back on track after my bout of illness, normal schedule will now resume. I'd like to once again thank everyone who is reading and following this fic. Hope you're all still having fun. It gets darker from here.

Please be aware the previous chapter and this chapter are being posted 'raw', since I'm trying to get back to posting on a schedule. I will try and come back and edit these last two chapters properly over the next couple of days.

Guest: I meant to answer this last week, but yes, Corona might just have an unseasonal cold snap if any of those sketches ended up in Elsa's hands.

Other Guest: Sorry, but its only a shout-out. The Kiamo Ko reference was just a bit of fun, but I have no reasonable way to include Wicked into this fic without completely derailing the plot. Glad you're enjoying it so far.

Chapter 6: A rumble with Royals.

* * *

"Hans?" Rapunzel asked, even as Eugene quickly reached down and grabbed the pair of frying pans, handing one of them to her. "Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles?"

It was absurd on the face of it. The Southern Isles were well over a thousand miles from Corona, and from what Elsa had said, Hans was supposed to have been jailed pending a trial for regicide. Nonetheless, she couldn't think of any other person who might be called Hans, dressed in the white and gold of the Southern Isles and who might know Elsa.

There was the sound of metal on metal as Hans drew his own long sword and for a second Rapunzel was sure the lights were beginning to dim slightly when Hans chuckled. "Now how would you have come across that name I wonder?"

"Elsa told us all about you," Rapunzel retorted, even as a horrible hiss echoed throughout the room.

"No, leave them to me," Hans said, talking to thin air. Eugene and Rapunzel shared a puzzled look, before turning back to him. The room noticeably brightened when he said it though, and if she didn't know better, Rapunzel would have said that Hans looked less sinister too. Like a darkness had faded from his eyes.

"So here's the thing, the two of you obviously know dear Elsa, and I'd like to share a few words, and the pointy end of my blade with her when I get the chance. Since I'm in such a good mood however, I'm going to give you one chance to tell me where she is." He began to move around the tablet that made up the centrepiece of the room, and despite his whimsical tone, there was no humour in his voice. "But you only get the one chance. After that, we do things the hard way."

Rapunzel gave him a level look. "If you're the same Hans who tried to kill Elsa and steal her throne, then there's only the hard way."

"Oh, so confident," Hans said mockingly as he moved towards them. "You really think that a couple of frying pans are going to stop me?"

"You'd be surprised how well these work," Eugene said with a smirk of his own. "On the strangest day of my life, it was frying pans that saved the day. "

"Whatever you say," Hans replied and on the very last syllable he leapt forward, blade slashing down towards the petite brunette, only to find it being blocked and deflected by the frying pan. Before Hans could recover from the rather surprising event of having his sword slide of a cast iron pan, another one impacted solidly against the side of his head as Eugene swung like he meant business.

Hans found himself knocked halfway across the room and he rolled down a short set of stairs that separated the lower floor of the chamber from the raised section on which the tablet stood. For a second no one moved, and then to Eugene and Rapunzel's surprise, Hans levered himself to his feet, cackling with laugher.

"Nailed by a frying pan," he said with a chortle. "That's definitely new. Actually, that would have worked normally too, but fortunately for me it isn't just me in here anymore." He pointed to his head as he said that. "And my new companion is pretty good at making sure I don't go down quite that easily."

He shrugged his shoulders a few times to loosen them up, and approached the raised area again. He struck out again, but this time he moved with his enemies as they countered his blows, and for all of Rapunzels enthusiasm, she was no soldier, nor had she spent a lifetime being trained by the best swords masters the Southern Isles had to offer. Eugene fared slightly better, his years as a rogue and bandit having provided lots of on the job training, but that merely meant it took longer.

Hans pushed the pace of their battle aggressively, and very soon neither of the Coronans could keep up. He swung hard at Rapunzel who raised her frying pan to block, and at the last minute flipped his sword round so that the hilt slammed into the pan with force. The pan snapped back and hit Rapunzel in the face staggering her, and Hans deflected the immediate and expected panicked counter-attack from Eugene.

He slammed a fist across Eugene's face as he parried the blow with his sword, and stepped towards the other man, and even as the Coronan began to fall, Hans raised his foot and kicking Eugene hard in the side of the head.

"Eugene," Rapunzel cried as her husband dropped like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Hans straightened up and turned to her, a disturbing smile on his face.

"One down, one to go."

* * *

"Who is that?" Flynn murmured softly as he reached the lip of the tunnel which appeared to open up into a large antechamber. He and Elsa had been following the tunnel which had started to slope uphill rather sharply until they'd heard voices. He glanced back at Elsa who had been slowed down somewhat due to her leg having been hurt in the fall, but who had nonetheless refused any offers of help.

He grinned to himself as he recalled Elsa's reaction to him suggesting she might be a tad on the stubborn side, and that maybe he should help her up the incline in the tunnel. It had involved a very impolite suggestion regarding his ancestry and anatomy, and he was fairly sure it was physically impossible. The smile faded as he considered the injury. It wasn't actually that bad at the moment, but she needed a proper healer to take a look at it. Unfortunately the emergency kit he carried around simply wasn't sufficient for most things.

"Who is who?" she asked, a weariness in her voice that spoke of having spent a great deal of energy that she didn't necessarily have to spare. However she had continued on without complaint or comment. She was obviously grateful to have a chance to stop for a moment, and they both pretended not to notice the deep gulps of air she was breathing in.

"Red haired fellow talking to the cute brunette while he's tying her up," Flynn responded nonchalantly. "I'm guessing one or the other is your friend?"

Favouring him with a look not unlike that of a nanny who had caught one of her charges with paint on his hands while claiming he didn't do it, Elsa forced herself to the lip of the tunnel and looked down into the chamber, and her face turned into a scowl.

"_Hans,"_ The depths of venom in her voice made it sound like she was speaking with Hell's own larynx as that one word rolled over him, and he glanced at her. He'd only known her for a few hours, but in that time he'd found her an interesting, occasionally exasperating and intelligent person. Mostly however, she had come across as a reserved person, not unfeeling but definitely not showing a huge amount of emotion. He hadn't seen her go into a deep seething anger like this.

"I'm guessing he's not your friend," Flynn said, drawing his sword softly and slowly.

The look Elsa gave him wasn't one he'd seen before. It was cold, implacable and spoke of very bad things about to happen. "Hans tried to murder me not that long ago, my sister too. And now he's got Rapunzel tied up," she looked at the unconscious form of Eugene lying nearby and was relieved to see his chest rising and falling. "And Eugene knocked out. He's definitely not my friend."

"Okay, here's what I suggest, we can,-" he began to say when Elsa cut him off.

"Listen to me Flynn. I'm going to go confront him, your only job is to see that Rapunzel and Eugene are safe."

"Elsa I don't think," he began to say but one look in icy blue eyes stopped him.

"Keep. Them. Safe," she repeated punctuating every word, and he considered this.

Flynn wasn't usually the kind of person who obeyed orders without question, but Elsa had a tone he'd heard before. The tone of someone used to commanding others, and having them obey. Nonetheless, he had a point to make. and he almost hated to say it, but wasn't going to lie to her at this point. "That's no small responsibility," he explained softly. "Why are you trusting a complete stranger with the lives of people you care about."

The response came almost immediately. "You're a worrier Flynn. You think I haven't noticed how you keep checking to make sure I'm still on my feet, or how I seem to be getting more of the water and bread than you've had. I dropped out of the sky on top of you, and the first thing you did before you even woke me up was bandage me up. I trust you."

He actually took a deep shuddering breath at that, and wondered for a moment what was wrong with her that she could trust him on so little information, or for that matter what was wrong with him that he was surprised that she might. Therein lie the crux of his dilemma though. He could either prove worthy of that unasked for trust, or he couldn't. Somehow he didn't think he'd like himself much if he didn't.

Besides, he'd seen this kind of behaviour before. She was worried, not for herself but for people she cared deeply about. She was angry and afraid, and somewhere between desperation and blinding fury, and if he wasn't sure Elsa was thinking particularly rationally, he wasn't going to argue the point with her.

He put a hand on her shoulder and motioned for her to crouch down. If he wasn't going to argue with her, then his job was to do his best to make sure her plan worked.

"Okay. When you jump down," he said, indicating the area below where the cavern was. "Try moving to your left. It'll look like you're trying to get closer to your friends, and he'll probably move with you in order to keep himself between you. Once he's turned far enough, I'll sneak down and try and get your friends untied, or at least put myself between them and him."

Elsa looked at him with a somewhat surprised look, almost as if she hadn't expected him to give in without a fight. It was possible she'd got a better read of his character than he thought.

"What?" he finally asked.

"Thank you," was all she said, before turning back to the open exit just as Hans was finished tying up Rapunzel.

She stood up and moved to the very edge of the tunnel. The drop down to the floor was probably no more than eight feet, and she tested her leg where it was still sore. Bleeding too, the last time she'd checked it, but that was a later concern. One thing she'd learned long ago was that it was never a good idea to let your body know that it was hurt. She was confident her leg could handle one little drop.

"Hans!" she thundered into the chamber, and the prince's eyes snapped up to her position with the unerring accuracy of a predator. "Let them go."

Elsa leapt down to the ground, landing in a crouch and only mildly wincing when her leg tried to buckle under her. Before she'd fully come upright however, Hans had seized Rapunzel and roughly hauled her to her feet as well, putting the edge of his sword under her chin.

"Elsa," he said, a wicked grin on his face. "I somehow knew that it would be you and not some other Elsa. It's small world sometimes."

"Hans," Elsa practically snarled and she raised her hands in a placating gesture, even as she took a step to the left. "I don't know why you're here, and I don't care. Let her go."

He shook his head even as he adjusted his position to keep himself and Rapunzel between Elsa and the still unconscious Eugene. "I don't think so Elsa, and put your hands down now. If I feel even a slight chill in the air, I'll slit her throat faster than you can blink."

The blade he held in his right hand was angled across Rapunzel's throat, and was held rock steady. For all his faults, Hans was a man of precision and he had no intention of allowing any accidents to happen. The tension hovered in the air between them for a moment before Elsa lowered her hands back to her side. She didn't stop edging to the left however, and Hans continued to keep her in sight.

"You can't win Hans," she retorted. She wasn't far enough across yet to let Flynn climb down, so she needed to keep him talking. "You don't look like you're here on official business, so I'm guessing you escaped and are on the run. What's the matter Hans, couldn't talk your way out of this one?"

His brow narrowed as the shot went home and Elsa had the satisfaction of hearing him growl. Whatever he was doing here he was obviously not planning to leave without doing it, and she was fairly confident he knew that if he actually hurt or killed Rapunzel then the gloves would come off. Figuratively speaking at least, she hadn't worn her gloves in months.

"No Elsa, I couldn't," he said darkly, pulling the sword tight against Rapunzel's throat. The Coronan looked like she wanted to say something but wasn't willing to risk it, and her wide eyes looked at Elsa, who in return tried to convey a sense of calm and confidence to her cousin, though she wasn't sure how well she succeeded. "After all, with your testimony and that of your sister that I tried to kill you arriving back home with me, even my own brothers were going to see me hung. Where is dear Anna anyway, I'd like to show her exactly how I feel about her part in this little drama."

This time it was Elsa's turn to feel a surge of rage pass through her. Hans knew her one emotional weakness better than anyone else alive save perhaps Anna herself. He had been there on the Fjord and had effortlessly brought her to her knees with words alone. It was where schemers such as he lived. She forced the anger down, she couldn't risk Rapunzel's life by losing control here and now.

"You'll never see her again Hans, and so help me God, if you hurt Rapunzel I'll see you dead," the cold in her voice had nothing to do with her powers, and even Hans seemed slightly mystified at that. He had been expecting her to be upset for taking her friend hostage, but this reaction was too strong for that. There was a sound, almost like a wordless hiss that echoed through the room, and Hans nodded in understanding.

"Ah, she's your cousin. Well, I think we both know how easily family can break you, don't we Elsa," he sneered as he continued to track Elsa as she moved around the room, seemingly heading towards the steps to the raised area. What he didn't see, and what Elsa was very careful to only note peripherally was Flynn dropping silently down to the ground, now almost directly behind Hans and with his sword already drawn.

"How could you possibly know that?" Elsa demanded.

"Oh that's easy. You see I've made a new friend who is, well, call it riding along in my body at the moment. And she knows things about you Elsa, and Rapunzel here," he indicated the woman he was holding in that same grip. He let the blade slacken slightly, relieving the pressure on her neck. "Tell me Princess, did you know that ancient powers want you dead?"

"The only one who wants me dead," Rapunzel grated out. "Is you and you're crazy."

Flynn had moved very silently behind Hans, and had been waiting for that moment when Hans' blade was off Rapunzel's neck, and his sword flashed out. Under other circumstances he might have tried to attack or even kill Hans, but he couldn't risk failing and having the girls throat cut. After all, he'd promised Elsa to keep them safe, and he believed in keeping his promises.

So instead his attack swept past the body of Hans and the Princess, impacting hard on the edge of Hans' sword and slamming it away from Rapunzel's neck. The petite princess didn't hesitate for a moment, slamming a foot down on her assailants boot, and when his head came down in pain and surprise, slamming the back of her head into his face and allowing herself to fall forward and out of his grip.

Hans screamed and staggered back, swinging his sword in wild motions that while utterly ineffective for offense, allowed him to get some distance from everything, and Flynn placed himself between the Prince and Eugene, while Elsa grabbed her cousin and swept her behind them both.

Elsa glared at Hans, even as the prince wiped the blood off his face where Rapunzel's head had smashed into his nose. "Game over Hans, you've lost, again."

"No," Hans snarled. "It's not. Maleficent, your turn."

And all hell broke loose.

* * *

"Alright, we're about ready. Anna are you sure about this?" Kristoff asked as he lead his horse out of the gates of Corona. Anna, walking beside him and holding the reigns of her own horse nodded and looked at him.

"I'm sure Kristoff, " she said. "We haven't seen Pocahontas since the portrait gallery, and I'm worried."

He considered saying something, but shrugged and pulled an arm around her. The hug was brief, but heartfelt and Anna smiled at him. Even though it was late, and it wasn't particularly smart to ride through the night in the mountainous and often treacherous terrain in Arendelle, it was diferent here in Corona.

Outside of the central island and the forests to the east, most of the kingdom was flat enough, and the roads were well built. Whatever faults the royal family might have had, they had invested heavily in roads to all the small villages around the capital, and their chief architect was even considering an actual highroad. He hadn't been at the ball the previous night, but from what she'd heard, Mi'Hen was a genius when it came to planning.

For now however, the relevant point was that they could ride at night, and they quickly mounted up after they'd left the gate. Corona at night time was fascinating to Anna. She'd always loved the night-time in Arendelle. They were far enough North to see the sky light up several times a year, but her cousin's kingdom was much farther south, and the dark night sky seemed deeper and more foreboding here.

Her musings on the night were cut short when Kristoff suddenly angled his horse off the path. "Kristoff?"

"I saw something," he called back, and Anna quickly pulled her own horse after his. By the time she caught up with him he had already dismounted near a young woman with shockingly red hair who was staggering along the road.

"Miss, are you okay?" Kristoff asked, and he was shocked at the state of her. Her clothing was ripped, and she was bleeding from several wounds. Her bow and empty quiver suggested a long battle, and the sword in her hand was being dragged along the ground as she resolutely put one foot infront of the other.

When Kristoff reached her, green eyes snapped to his and the relief in her eyes was palpable.

"They're coming," she whispered in an accent Kristoff didn't recognise. "Barely escaped. Duncan? Where is," she breathed before collapsing into his arms.

"Kristoff, is she okay?" Anna asked as she slid off the horse. He shook his head as he hefted her into his arms. Anna looked off into the darkness in the direction of the watchtower, and sighed. "Come on Kristoff. Let's get her back to the castle. We can find Elsa tomorrow. "

"Do you have any idea what she was talking about?" he asked, and she shook her head. A flash of silver caught both of their eyes as Pocahontas reappeared.

"You have to get to safety," she said quickly. "Maleficent has moved faster than anticipated, and the Heartless are coming."

"The what?" Anna asked, concern in her eyes, and she heard a hissing coming from the darkness. She glanced in the direction that the girl had come from, and her breath caught in her throat as she saw glowing yellow eyes staring back at her.

"The Heartless. Maleficents shock troops, and with each victim their number will grow." Anna could see more of them moving in the darkness, and she took a defensive step back towards her horse.

"Kristoff, let's get back to the castle, and raise the guard, quickly."

* * *

Elsa never even saw the blow coming. One moment there were three of them facing off against Hans, with Eugene still unconscious behind them, the next a darkness exploded from Hans, blanketing the room in shadows. Something slammed into her like a sledgehammer and she went flying backwards and straight out of the room as the shadow drove her away from her companions.

She smashed through a wooden door into another room, and she dimly heard someone screaming her name as she hit the ground hard enough to knock all the breath from her. The shadows seemed to coalesce into the shape of a tall, slim woman with eyes of smoke and darkness.

"Elsa," the voice hissed. "You have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy destroying you."

Elsa scrabbled to her feet, and ice grew up from the ground around her. "I have no idea who you are, or why you want to hurt me or my family, but I will not allow it."

An evil laugh echoed through the room. "Ice versus shadow, you poor deluded child. This should be entertaining."

* * *

"Elsa," Rapunzel screamed as she was flung out of the room. She had no more idea of what was going on than any of the others, but watching her cousin being attacked by living shadow was horrifying. Hans took advantage of the opportunity to attack and his blade scythed towards Rapunzel's head only to be smoothly intercepted by Flynn.

"Really?" Hans asked. "And who are you. A bodyguard, a bystander, a lover?"

Flynn barked a laugh at that. "You're not going to distract me that easily pretty boy. I made a promise to the lady, and I intend to keep it."

Flynn was about to retort, when a frying pan came flying over Flynn's shoulder smashing into Hans' face again and he staggered back a second time. "Enough with the damn frying pans," he snarled as he held his face.

Rapunzel glared at him. "Just shut up," she said. "All you do is put people down, and try to make them feel bad. You don't even know me and you've already tried to kill me twice."

Hans laughed in her face. "Oh go one, give me another speech. They work so well, you might even redeem me through the magic of friendship."

There was a triumphant gleam in Rapunzel's eye as she stood slightly behind Flynn, whose eyes had never left Hans. She had retrieved the second frying pan from where it had been lying near Eugene, and was holding it menacingly. "Oh I'm not trying to redeem you. I just wanted to keep you focussed on me so she could get behind you."

Hans snapped his head round, instinctively backing up to provide the smallest possible target only to find the space behind him empty. He had just enough time to roll his eyes and sigh before Rapunzel's frying pan slammed into him again and sent him flying.

This was not turning out to be his day.

However he could still feel Maleficent's power, even though the ancient Witch was using her power to terrorise Elsa as well, and he shrugged off the blow like he had the others. He knew that he couldn't take blows like that for much longer. Time to go on the offensive.

Elsa scrambled for cover as tendrils of shadow smashed holes in the brickwork. She had absolutely no experience with this kind of battle, and had no real idea how to respond. The siege of North Mountain hadn't really been deserving of the name and her battle experience during it was laughable by any real world standard.

Another tendril of shadow snaked out towards her from the center of the shadowy mass, and Elsa ducked this one too. They were fast enough, but didn't seem very flexible or capable of adjusting their aim once they had been created. As soon as she was sure that she had dodged the next shadow tendril, she summoned her powers and raised a massive spike of ice in the middle of the figure.

Maleficent laughed. "Really, is that the best you can do?" she taunted and Elsa tried very hard not to lose her control.

"I'm new at this," she said before spinning her hand in a tight arc and trying to capture the shadow in a massive ball of ice. "It's not like I've had much chance to face shadow monsters."

The ice-ball held for a moment before cracks began to appear, and the shadows coalesced back into the shape of the green-skinned woman.

"I was expecting better from you. For centuries now I've been husbanding power for this confrontation. To finally wipe the line of Aurora from this world and I was expecting more of a challenge."

Elsa ignored her, and dissipated the ice. "Then maybe you should just let us go and I'll go and train. You can come back in a few years and I'll give you a proper challenge. "

"Audacious demand little Ice mage," Maleficent responded, only to have a blade of ice bisect the shadow head to no effect. "But I think not."

Elsa shrugged. "Worth a shot."

* * *

As the battle raged on between Maleficent and Elsa, another battle was raging between Rapunzel, the man calling himself Flynn and Hans. Rapunzel was all rage and worry, for herself and Elsa, for Eugene and even the stranger who had come to their aid.

Flynn was more precise, being less emotionally invested and he could tell that under normal circumstances he might have been a decent match for Hans, but given that the Prince was being empowered by Maleficent, and had no compunctions about killing either of them, it was a battle they were slowly losing.

Every blow from Hans was countered, but the defences were coming slower and slower. Eventually, someone was going to be too slow, and Hans was no dummy. He specifically focussed his attacks on Rapunzel who was undeniably the weaker combatant. As a result, Flynn spent too much of his time trying to defend her as well as himself to be able to provide decent offense.

It only took a moment's distraction, of trying to keep up with the attacks, and note where both Rapunzel and Eugene were for Hans to slice his blade across Flynn's arm, gouging a deep cut in the leather he was wearing and drawing blood. Without slowing down Hans slammed a shoulder into the other man, sending him sprawling.

"You know little girl," he snarled, turning to Rapunzel, and lifting his sword with both hands. "You've been a real pain in my neck, and jaw, and now I'm going to make you pay for it."

He swung the sword with all his might, knowing that even if she blocked, he would still injure her, and had the satisfaction of hearing the idiot newcomer scream in protest as the blade scythed downwards towards the young girl.

Rapunzel flinched and reflexively shut her eyes in anticipation of the blow, her frying pan a feeble defense against a blade being wielded in a murderous rage.

So it was to everyone's surprise when a wavy blade, made of the purest silver and shining like moonlight intercepted his blade. He stood, hands pressing the sword downward only to find it blocked by a sword that had quite literally come out of nowhere. His eyes glared at the blade, and followed its length to its owner and his eyes widened in surprise.

The silver blade was being wielded by a young woman, Chinese by the look of it who had a determined look on her face and spoke something. He had no idea what she said, except that it was angry and reproachful and aimed at him.

"You have got to be kidding me," he swore, his breathing coming in ragged breaths. For all of his skill with a long blade, the shadow-stepping that Maleficent had used to transport him the best part of several thousand miles was exhausting and he'd been engaged in at least a two on one battle since he arrived here.

Strange Chinese women made out of silver light was just a step too far, even for him. Before anyone could react further, there was an explosion of shadow in the room, and Maleficent returned to him.

"Hurry you fool. The ancestor spirits will overwhelm you if you wait," she snapped at him, and a corridor appeared in the shadow that lead to the heavy door at the back of the room. He half-ran and half-stumbled over to it and yanked the door open with a massive heave.

Hans staggered into the main room through the door, clouds of smoke still billowing behind him from Maleficent's distraction. He ignored the pain in his jaw from the frying pan and the blood dripping down his chin from Rapunzels headbutt. In his mind he cursed Elsa, Rapunzel and their entire family. His fingers were slick with sweat and blood and his heart hammered in his chest as wiped a hand over his eyes to try and clear the smoke out of them.

The moment his vision cleared his eyes were immediately drawn to the ornate staff lying in a cradle that looked like it had been specifically designed to hold it. Holding his own against two people, one of whom at least had been trying to kill him was more exhausting than it looked, and he pulled a dirty and stained sleeve across his forehead to wick away the sweat.

He forced himself forward and approached the staff, and sheathed his blade. It was a black thing, twisted and evil. It fairly well hummed with dark power and secrets. Slowly, almost reverently he reached out his hands and lifted the staff out of its cradle. The rush of power that swept through him as he did was so immense, for a second he thought he might lose himself in it. Fortunately Hans was nothing if not pragmatic, and there would be time later to indulge.

"Quickly," the voice of Maleficent hissed in his ears. "Speak the incantation, and return me to my full power."

A strange smile played on Hans' face as he looked at the staff. "And then you'll kill Elsa, Anna and Rapunzel and take over the world right? Give me the Southern Isles, Arendelle, Corona and everything else in the Baltic as my own Kingdom?

"Of course," the voice spoke seductively in his ear. "Exactly as we agreed."

"The staff is that powerful," Hans murmured as he felt his energy being restored and augmented by the waves of darkness coming from that black staff, and without even realising it, a decision was made. "No, Maleficent. I think I'd like to rule the whole world instead."

"What?" the voice hissed, anger evident. "Honor your agreement Princeling, or you will regret it."

"Oh I don't think I will," he said as he swung the staff round and slammed it down onto the ground. "In fact, I think King Hans, supreme leader of the world, has a nice ring to it."

TBC…


	8. Chapter 7: King Of The World

Thank you Guest for the kind review. I hope the rest of the story and eventual ending work for you. :)

Chapter Seven: King of the World.

* * *

A low throaty chuckled echoed through the room that had once held the staff of Maleficent. Hans stood proudly, his every bearing that of a young Royal who had found his place in the world. Nonetheless the chuckle was not his, it belonged to a power far older than the rulers of the Southern Isles, and not easily impressed besides.

"King of the world?" Maleficent hissed into his ears, even as he tried to ignore her. "Do you think it is that easy boy? That you can betray me like this, and suffer no consequences." There was a dark promise in that voice, filled with evil. It was the kind of voice that could and had seduced many people over the years, many of whom had been corrupted in the service of trying to hamper or hurt those who had been Aurora's children and their children and so forth.

"I think," Hans replied, voice firm with conviction. "That I am holding this staff, and that as long as I don't speak your spell, that you're just a ghost whispering in my ears. I can live with that."

Had Hans known the true depths of the power he had wedded himself too, he might not have been so quick to dismiss Maleficent. He thought his experiences with Elsa and her powers had given him a good grounding in the understanding of magic, and it wasn't entirely unfair for him to have thought so.

There were certainly plenty of tales about magic and sorcery in legend, and Hans had heard most of them. There were even some from within his own family, rumours that his mother was a sea urchin for instance. Those could be dismissed as nothing more than fairy tales. Similarly the many outlandish stories throughout history that he had heard were just that, tall tales.

But real magic? That was to be scoffed at. The fanciful tales from Corona about its Princess and her magic hair were nothing more than the product of drunk peasants trying to top their friends tall tales in the local tavern. Even Elsa's powers, real as they were, weren't that outlandish. The mastery of a base element was definitely powerful, but he had met Elsa, and knew how fragile her control really was.

So Maleficent's warning fell on deaf ears as his lips pulled back in a smile that was only a hair away from being a sneer. "So have at it Maleficent, talk me to death."

Hans had heard the phrase about tempting fate, he just never assumed it would apply to him. He one moment to realise the depths of his mistake as his limbs locked up, and his mouth moved without his input, before his body, the staff he was holding and Maleficent's spirit vanished from the room, leaving nothing but silence and dust in the room.

* * *

"Elsa?" the voice was tentative, questioning and Elsa was glad to hear it.

"In here Flynn," she called back, even as she levered herself to a sitting position and then climbed to her feet. The evil spirit that Hans had called Maleficent had vanished in the midst of their battle, and that was peculiar for it was a battle Elsa had been losing. It was infuriating in a way to have come so far in terms of controlling her powers, and then to find that she was no match at all for the spirit that Hans had summoned.

She dismissed the ice in the room and gingerly walked over to the door, taking care to not put any more pressure on her injured leg than she had to. For a day that had started so well, she was definitely feeling the wear and tear. She couldn't ignore the fact that their initial exploration was supposed to have been just a short look at the inside of the castle, and that they were supposed to have spent the night sleeping rather than delving through the deep passageways and fighting evil princes. She'd been up for a very long time, even though she had no idea what the exact time was, she knew it was late.

The original injury from when she'd fallen through the floor following Flynn's attempted demolition of the first puzzle door hadn't actually been too bad. A nasty gash, but one that had been bandaged up without too much trouble. Unfortunately circumstances hadn't allowed her to give it the rest that it deserved and needed to heal.

Instead she had walked a not inconsiderable distance, jumped down from a tunnel, and engaged in battle with a dark spirit, and each of those had sapped a bit more strength, had aggravated the injury just a bit further until she was at the point where walking was genuinely painful. She had no idea why Maleficent had suddenly departed, but something had spooked her. Elsa had seen that much in her expression.

A slightly scarred, goateed head poked through the door, looking around before spotting her. "It looks like Hans and the shadow spirit decided to make a run for it. We think they took something from the other room, but they've left. You okay?" He came fully into the room, and if he seemed to be moving easier than she was, he was definitely favoring his left arm.

"Not particularly," she admitted, opting for honesty over bravado and continuing to limp towards him. "What happened?"

"Not really sure, we were fighting Hans, and getting our asses kicked when this Chinese girl made out of silver light appeared. Next thing I know, the room's covered in shadow, and Hans has vanished," he explained. "I figured that as soon as we woke up your friend Eugene, finding you was the new priority."

He took one look at her unsteady steps towards him and moved quickly, throwing her arm over his shoulder and putting an arm around her waist to give her support. "Come on Elsa," he said, completely oblivious to the way she almost instinctively froze up for a moment. "Let's get you out of here and back to your friends, and then you're going to give that leg some rest, while we all trade stories and share food. I can cook, I make a mean campfire steak. Won't that be fun?"

He said it with such a big grin on his face that it made Elsa smile reflexively. Despite having just been in a battle, and the fact that they were both mildly injured, he seemed to be treating it with exactly the same concern as he had his failed attempt to blow up a door. She'd asked him about that earlier and he'd made a comment about not worrying about the past, and he was living up to that promise. He already looked like he was thinking about what to do next, rather than what had just happened.

"There's something very wrong with you, you know that right?" she asked lightly and he nodded as it if was the most normal thing in the world. Maybe for him it was, and it struck Elsa that for a man who had been willing to throw himself into battle, and risk injury and death she knew very little about him. Everything he'd talked about had been impersonal, any information he'd volunteered told her next to nothing about him as a person.

Whatever he was carefully not saying was something that obviously was important to him, and the truth was that she was loathe to pry. She knew perfectly well the price of keeping secrets, and the reasons why a person might pay that price anyway. Especially given that she still hadn't got round to mentioning that she was the Queen of Arendelle.

"Yup," he cheerfully agreed. "But we don't have time to go over all the things that are wrong with me. Your friends are waiting."

"Good," she responded. "I'm well past ready to get out of this crumbling ruin."

* * *

Hans hit the ground hard, trying to roll, but his body was still not responding. It was easily one of the most terrifying things he'd ever experienced. To lie in the dirt, feeling your body climb slowly to its feet and grab the dark staff that was lying beside him, and yet have no control at all. Unable to speak or protest, and somewhere in his mind Hans screamed.

The only response he got was laughter, as shadows coalesced into the tall, thin form of Maleficent.

"I warned you," she said languidly as the smoke drifted around him. "I might even have honoured the terms of our original agreement, but I am so glad you made it unnecessary. You see the moment you allowed me into your body, by using your blood no less, you left a door open. And a door once opened can be stepped through at any time. Now your body is mine."

The haze continued to drift as dark eyes bored into Hans from the rough shape of a woman's head that seemed to be made up, and . "It won't be for long of course, but long enough I think to get my body back, and then I shall teach you the meaning of pain and suffering as penalty for your betrayal."

To his horror, Hans heard his own voice begin speaking an incantation that Maleficent had taught him. One that would, according to her, return the ancient Witch Queen to her full powers. Hans screamed and protested and willed his body to stop moving, to stop talking, but to no avail as he watched his own arm raise the staff high and slam It down on the final syllable of the spell.

Everything stopped around them. The smoke ceased to drift, dust in the air stilled and even the pale light of the moon seemed to come to a halt for a moment so brief, he wasn't even sure he'd noticed it in the first place.

And then the moment ended, and Hans screamed, his body finally reacting to his commands as shadows burst forward from his mouth. He doubled over in pain, even as the smoke joined the rest of the dark cloud swirling around him. The staff, which he'd released when he doubled over lifted into the air of its own volition, at the center of the maelstrom.

Even if he had wanted to try and stop it, he felt so weak that he had no idea how. All the injuries he'd shrugged off while Maleficent had inhabited his body had returned with a vengeance. His face throbbed from the various blows he'd received in battle. Every muscle ached and screamed with the energy expended during the shadow-steps, and it was all he could do to raise his head and watch with tears running down his face, as a lance of pure darkness crashed out of the sky over the staff.

It was a beam of light so black, that even the night-sky seemed bright by comparison, and the smoke and shadows were sucked into it as the beam pounded into the ground. Finding some energy reserve he didn't know he had, he threw himself backwards and away from the beam.

That's when the laughter began again in earnest. A single sinewy hand reached out of the column of dark energy, a pale green light seemingly glowing from the skin. The staff was held in it, and it was followed by an arm clad in black cloth. Maleficent's head was next, her cheekbones high and sharp, head covered in a multi-horned crest that managed to inspire fear just from their presence.

"At last," she said, an unholy glee in her voice. "I am myself again." She spread her arms wide, and blasts of dark power, tinged with the same green as her skin shot out, and where they struck nearby trees, those trees shattered and broke. She laughed long and loud into the night sky, and Hans desperately thought of a way out, his hand finally reaching for his sword.

The moment he began to draw it however, Maleficent's head snapped to him, eyes level and a dangerous smile on her face. "More betrayal dear Hans?" she asked, and swept a hand to the sky.

Hans felt himself yanked up by his arms, the pressure so intense he dropped his sword as he hung in the air in front of her, arms pulled wide. He felt the beginnings of a scream of pain rip from his throat and he forced it down. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Dark eyes bored into his, and it was like she could read his very soul, and found it amusing.

"Go to hell Witch," he snarled at her.

"Let me tell you what your betrayal will cost you," he voice purred softly, unfazed by his outburst. "First, I will take your mind and show you the worst horrors you can imagine. You will know pain so exquisite, that it will break your very thoughts into thousands of little pieces. I will show you the things you fear the most, and shine a light on them so bright that your very soul will shrivel."

Hans couldn't stop the cry of pain as her fingers brushed his skin, and every nerve in his body seemed to react. "I will then keep you alive and watching, as I take your pathetic little kingdom. First I will brush Corona and Arendelle aside, and then I will set the Southern Isles alight. I will find your family, and you will watch them suffer and die before you. Your people, your brothers and finally your parents. And then, only then, when I have taken everything from you, will I turn you into one of my new Heartless, to serve me for the rest of your days."

The scream of denial that Hans couldn't hold in mixed with her laughter in the dark night.

* * *

"Easy now," Eugene said, providing a guiding hand for Elsa as they finally exited the castle. It had taken the group of them close to an hour to get out, and in that time Elsa's strength seemed to have left her, even as the pain in her leg increased from very painful to something only just south of agonising. Rapunzel had wanted to stop several times, but Eugene had urged that they get outside as quickly as possible, and both Elsa and the stranger with her had echoed that sentiment.

They still had no idea what had happened to Hans or what the foul magic was that he had used to summon the strange spirit. For that matter they didn't know why they had suddenly abandoned the field, or what was in the chamber. There was an obvious brace for something to be mounted, possibly a weapon, but there was no indication as to what.

Eugene paused for a second as he helped Elsa over a particularly bad piece of terrain, with the other man helping from his side and suddenly realised that he had never asked for the stranger's name. He had planned to ask about the identity of the stranger when his wife had woken him up, but given the obvious pain Elsa was in, he decided it could wait. Still, now that they were outside and near the campsite, all those little things that he'd set aside were coming back to the front of his mind.

The whole situation struck him as bizarre in the extreme, and he was a man who had known some bizarre situations. He had after all once duelled a horse, on the edge of a dam, with a frying pan. The evil foreign prince, the stranger assisting Elsa, and the fact that they'd all coincidentally been in the same place at the same time. Eugene believed in coincidences, they happened all the time. He just didn't trust coincidences.

"So what did you say your name was?" he asked, directing the question to the man who helped Elsa down the stairs and onto the ground near where they'd tethered up their horses. The stranger paid him no mind, seemingly concentrating on helping Elsa move and he saw her shake her head in exasperation.

"He's a little on the quiet and annoying side," she explained to him. "But he's told me he calls himself Flynn Rider."

Eugene blinked a few times in surprise and the well-honed instincts of a conman kicked into high gear. "Really, Flynn Rider?" he asked, injecting a false cheer into his voice. "That's interesting, and by interesting I actually mean incredible."

"Yeah, yeah," Flynn responded finally, seemingly unconcerned. "Let me guess, I don't look anything like my wanted poster. I get that a lot."

"I imagine you do at that," Eugene said softly to himself as the other man got Elsa to the campsite and sat her down. "In fact, why don't you and I go get some firewood, and we'll let the ladies get settled. I've heard so much about you Flynn."

To his side he could see Rapunzel fighting back a smile at the almost love-struck tone in his voice, but she quickly got her face under control. "I think that's a brilliant idea," she glanced down at Elsa. "Why don't you let me and my," she was about to say 'cousin', but a quick shake of Elsa's head convinced her otherwise. "Friend catch up."

Flynn looked at the two of them raising his eyebrows, then looked back at Elsa, who nodded at him. He shrugged philosophically. "If you want. Eugene right?" he asked, just to make sure and the other man nodded. "Well, let's get going then Eugene."

The two of them sauntered off into the nearby woods and began collecting firewood. They worked in silence, despite Eugene's plans to question the other man. It wasn't as if he'd never done that before, but it seemed almost bizarre to just launch into a prepared 'You can't possibly be Flynn Rider' speech without some sort of preamble.

"So Eugene," Flynn said. "Would you like to begin the interrogation straight away, or would you like to chit-chat a bit first?"

Eugene gave him a non-plussed look as they continued onward. However never a shy man, he decided to grab the bull by its metaphorical horns. "Well if you insist. Who are you really, how did you just happen to be here when we were, and what happened to Elsa?"

Flynn simply shrugged. "I am who I am, my real name is of no consequence so I don't use it. I was following a rumour of treasure and Elsa fell through a hole I accidentally blew in the ceiling."

"That's it?" Eugene asked sceptically.

"Pretty much. I could lie if you really want," Flynn said calmly.

"No one's that honest," Eugene responded. "Everyone has secrets, something to hide."

"Oh sure," Flynn agreed. "And I'm not going to tell you my name, but beyond that, I really don't have anything much that I consider secret. I don't expect you to trust me immediately. I'm willing to earn that, it'll give me something to do in any case."

Eugene thought about it, and found it very hard to argue the point. He found it very hard to believe that anyone that open and cheerful wasn't hiding at least one dark secret, but at the end of the day he had no way to prove his suspicions. He had helped Elsa after all, and fought alongside Rapunzel afterwards. That was no small thing in Eugene's book, and if the man wanted to keep his secrets, then the young Coronan would be a hypocrite to complain. After all, for a long time, he'd kept his own name a secret too.

"Okay, but I'm watching you," he finally said, and was met by another one of Flynn's shrugs. The man's indifference was frustrating, but it was very hard to argue with. After all, if someone wasn't willing to rise to the bait, there wasn't a great deal else to be done.

"As well you should. I could be an axe-murderer for all you know."

"That's not helping," Eugene said with a groan.

Flynn grinned at him. "Wasn't meant to."

* * *

As soon as the boys were gone, both Elsa and Rapunzel dropped the cheerful and upbeat masks that they had on. In Elsa's case she leaned her head back, finally giving in to the grimace from the ball of sheer pain that was her leg, and in Rapunzel's case the smile just faded away and she looked at the retreating backs of Eugene and Flynn in consternation.

"Elsa, what's going on? Who is he? Why is Hans here and what was it that he summoned?"

Elsa kept her eyes closed, and continued to massage her leg. "Don't know, don't know, don't know and I think it's a who, not a what. Hans called her Maleficent."

Many questions chased their way through Rapunzels head as she sat down next to her cousin, but sorting them out would take a few minutes. Instead she focused on the question she knew she wanted an answer to. "Why didn't you want me to call you my cousin?"

Elsa sighed and sounded suddenly unsure. "Because for the first time in forever, I've actually met a person who doesn't know me. Who hasn't heard of Princess Elsa, or Queen Elsa. Someone who doesn't treat me like I'm a title and a legacy, but just another person." She caught Rapunzel's look. "You and Eugene are family, he's not. I just like having one person in the world who just treats me like an average, every day person."

"I can understand that," Rapunzel said, tucking her hair back and giving herself a frustrated look when she failed to do so. For better or for worse, she was stuck with this hair forever, as her hair had never grown after it was cut. "Still, you know you're going to have to tell him. He seems to be fond of you."

Elsa snorted inelegantly. "He acts like he hasn't got a care in the world. He tried to blow up a door because he couldn't figure it out, and his only reaction when I dropped in on his head was to shrug, bandage up my leg and keep trying."

Rapunzel's eyes narrowed. "What happened to your leg?" she demanded and Elsa sat up a bit straighter so she could pull off her boots and roll up the breeches she was wearing. Rapunzel's eyes widened as she took in the gash along the other woman's leg that only the fact that her breeches were a dark brown and they'd been inside a fairly dark castle had hidden.

"I know," Elsa said, seeing her expression. "But I knew we couldn't do anything about it until we got back to the horses and the healers kit I hope you packed, so it didn't seem worth complaining about."

"Elsa," Rapunzel said, and the other woman's eyes jerked at the snap in her tone. "Your leg is badly hurt, you should have said something." Rapunzel looked at it, then at the woods where Eugene and Flynn were. "Fortunately for you, your old auntie Rapunzel has a solution."

"You're my cousin, not my auntie," Elsa started to say, but a glare from the other woman silenced her.

"You see, everyone's heard the story of my hair. How it healed, then got cut off, and how the healing went with it," Rapunzel said as she very very gingerly put her hands on the wound. "And that's the story we've told everyone. The truth is a little different, and we decided it was best to keep it to ourselves."

She began to sing softly, something about healing flowers and time, and Elsa's eyes widened in almost comical relief when a soft golden glow shone out from under her cousin's hands, and when she pulled them back a few moments later, the only sign of the bleeding gash was an angry red line on her skin.

"Rapunzel," Elsa breathed. "How?"

"I don't know," she said sympathetically. "I only know that if I care about someone, I mean truly care about them. That every part of me, mind, body and soul wants them to be well, that I can still heal people. I found out when Eugene was hurt in an accident a few months ago. It's like the power that was once just part of my hair, is now mine. "

Elsa's hand came up to cover hers, and there was a smile on her face. "Then I'm glad you care about me."

The two of them sat there for a moment, when they heard bickering voices of Eugene and Flynn returning. Both had a substantial amount of wood slung over their shoulders, and they were arguing about something related to combat.

"Elsa, Blondie, you'll back me up on this right?" Eugene asked as he dumped his wood and began building a fire. "Frying pans over swords, yes?"

Rapunzel chuckled and Flynn looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes. "Setting aside that Eugene is completely wrong, that's the second time I've heard him call you Blondie. He said it after he first woke up as well." He chucked his firewood in the pile next to the fire, and dropped to the ground in the comfortable sprawl of someone who was perfectly used to bedding down on the ground.

He opened up his own backpack, and began taking some cooking utensils and a small blanket out of it. Eugene almost had the fire up and running, and while he still had some meat in his pack, it was all dried. He'd have to go hunting if anyone was planning to take him up on his offer of campfire steaks. "Now assuming he isn't colour-blind, there's a story to that."

"What makes you say that?" Rapunzel asked curiously. It wasn't that it was untrue, or that she was averse to telling the story, but she did want to know more about this stranger that was sharing their camp. "Maybe it's just an affectionate nickname."

"Well," he said as he pulled some dried meat out of his pack. "Despite being fairly new to Corona, I've heard a ludicrous story about how the Princess, whom you share a name with, was rescued by a fellow not unlike Eugene here. Part of that story, which I can only assume grew in the telling is about your magical blonde hair."

Rapunzel laughed at the idea. "What exactly grew in the telling, my hair or the stories about it?"

Flynn inclined his head to her, acknowledging the joke. "The thing is, if I happen to be in the presence of Royalty, I'd like to hear the story from yourselves, and sort out the fact from the fiction."

Something in the way he said 'Royalty' made Rapunzel sit up and take notice. There was an anger when he said it, and the thought suddenly sprung to mind that maybe Elsa had been lucky in her decision to mention that she was a Queen. "Do you have an issue with Royals Flynn?" she asked, as her eyes met those of her cousin.

"Yes," he answered immediately and bluntly, and there was something dark and bitter in his eyes. He never noticed the way Elsa's face seemed to drop as he said it. "And I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you my story if you'll tell me yours."

Eugene and Rapunzel shared the kind of look only a loving married couple could. The kind where vast amounts of information was exchanged, a discussion was had, and a decision was reached, all with nothing more than a few moments of look, and finally Rapunzel shrugged. "Eugene, if you'd do the honours? You tell it better than I do."

"Had more practice telling unbelievable tales," he replied with a smile. Rapunzel smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "All right, all right. Flynn, this is the story of how I died."

He enjoyed the startled look on the other man's face, but wasn't expecting the dismayed one on Elsa's, before remembering that she hadn't heard the full story yet either. "Oh but don't worry, this is actually a fun story, and the truth is, it isn't even mine."

Eugene settled into his speaking voice, and the others got comfortable as Eugene began to weave his tale.

* * *

The Coronan National Guard was not considered, except possibly by some devoted Coronans, to be the finest military in the world. In their defence, it had been a very long time since anyone had seriously threatened their nation with war, and even the best of militaries could grow complacent with no sign of a threat to keep them sharp.

Their troops were well drilled and trained, and the treasury kept them well stocked with modern weapons, but it simply wasn't the same as having had the kind of edge that experience gave a person. In that respect, the local constabulary was probably far more capable than the military, because there was a constant stream of minor crimes that plagued any large city and kept them busy. Even Max had only been able to do so much, and he was a horse besides.

The navy had far more practical experience to fall back on, having spent more than a bit of time suppressing piracy and protecting shipping channels for merchants. However sailors rarely make good Guardsmen, so their experience wouldn't have mattered under these circumstances anyway.

When two youngsters on horseback, carrying a third and injured person came to the gates with a warning of an unknown assailant, even the guard sprang into action. Alerts were raised, pulling guards out of their other duties and up to the wall near the central bridge. It being the only way in and out of the city on foot made it a very defensible point. The gates were closed, barred and sealed and a couple of scouting parties were prepared.

Had they been facing a normal foe, their response might even have worked. An army couldn't exactly swim into the city, nor approach it from the water without dealing with the navy first, and that left only the bridge. It had been over a century since a battle had last been fought their between armies, but all of the defensive emplacements had been kept well taken care of and ready, if for no other reason than that there was little else for guardsmen to do.

Large cauldron's stood ready to receive boiling oil or pitch which could be poured down over an assaulting army, forcing them to either retreat or find some way to cover themselves. Firing slits built into the walls and parapets allowed for defensive fire that was difficult to suppress, and could easily pick of anyone coming in without forward defenses. Part of the roof over the main gate had even been designed to be collapsible, in order to deny an attacker an unobstructed line of attack with a battering ram.

It was just unfortunate that for all of the precautions, the foe the Coronan guard faced was unlike any they could have imagined.

Even as Anna and Kristoff raced for the palace and the healers who could help the red-haired stranger they'd found by the roadside, the Heartless made their move. These things were creations of Maleficent, obedient to her will and virtually immune to normal weapons, with the ability to move through and scale obstacles that would have been the envy of any irregular infantry in the world.

The first of them made it over the wall without even being seen given that it was the middle of the night. While they wore the clothes that they had worn before being turned, the rest of their bodies was as dark as the night sky, and they moved with an unearthly silence. The first guardsman to encounter them, never even knew what he faced. Two of the heartless had scaled the wall, and one of them seized the young guardsmen while the other breathed shadow and darkness into his face.

Cayleb Richter, who had joined the guard as a teenager and was only just out of his teens now was brought down by the silent creatures, and found out to his despair that his heart too had pain and darkness. He tried to scream as his mind was filled with nightmares, not just of his actual life, but of the worst things that could have happened during it as well. The worst scenarios in his life, playing out in the worst way possible over and over again, until finally he gave in to despair. In all this time, no more than a whimper had escaped his throat, despite the mental anguish he was in, and none of the other guards, almost all of whom were facing towards the causeway that lead out of the city, had even noticed.

Moments later, something rose where Cayleb had fallen. Wearing the breastplate and armour of the Coronan guard, but with skin which was as dark as the night sky, and together with the other two Heartless, they began their assault.

* * *

"I'm telling you Anna, something is wrong in the city," Kristoff said, as he gazed out of the open window and down into the city. For a couple of people used to Arendelle's cold climate, even during a normal summer, Corona was almost stiflingly hot and they had kept their windows open since they'd arrived.

Anna, who was still standing over the healer as he worked on the young girl lying on the bed, glanced up at him. "It's fine Kristoff, the guard have weapons, and shields and armour, and probably all sorts of nasty things they can do to anyone stupid enough to attack the city."

The girl stirred, and Anna's attention was taken up by the opening of startling green eyes, that looked confused for a few seconds, as if unsure of what was happening, and then widened suddenly.

"Ah," the healer, a pleasant old man who rejoiced in the name of Erik Threeleaves said. "You're awake, that's good."

He didn't get any further before the girl sat up, ignoring the healer. "The shadow creature," she said, her accent making her only mildly difficult to understand. "Did you stop it?"

Anna shook her head. "No, we grabbed you and ran. Kristoff and I, we weren't carrying any weapons. But it's okay, the guard knows that something is coming."

The girl shook her head, and pushed the Erik, who was trying to get her to lie back down away. "Get off me," she snapped. Erik looked mildly affronted, but dropped his hands to his side and looked appealingly at Anna. "The guard won't be able to stop them. Arrows, my sword, it didn't even slow the bloody thing down. I almost had to hack the first one to pieces to slow it down, and that's when its friends showed up. I don't even know if I did manage to stop it for good."

Anna swallowed as Kristoff heard a scream from somewhere in the city. "Anna, whoever you are, Erik, we should probably get out of here."

"Merida," the girl responded as she hauled herself to her feet. She swayed there for a second before regaining her balance. "And I hate to run from a fight, but we can't stop these things easily."

"Oh no," Kristoff said still looking out of the window.

"Kristoff?" Anna said, her tone unsure as she walked over to join him. She looked down towards the city, and her eye was immediately drawn to what Kristoff had seen. There was a fire burning, and by the looks of it, it was someone's house. The flames themselves were dangerous enough, but swarming around the house there appeared to be several shadowy creatures dressed in civilian clothes. The two of them watched in horror as several of them jumped a person, who began screaming. The screams lasted for no more than a few seconds, before that person's skin also turned dark, and the attackers moved on, obviously seeking a new victim.

The two Arendellians looked at each other in horror. "We need to get out of here now," Kristoff said again, this time with conviction. "And we need to get the city to begin evacuations."

The siege of Corona had begun.

Tbc.


	9. Chapter 8: The Flight From Corona

Thats-A-Thing: Love the Heartless myself, although I will admit I'm taking liberties with how they make more of themselves, but then these aren't your regular Heartless either.

Pabulover123: I'm afraid Disney didn't provide me with a convenient male character I could use for 'Flynn Rider's' part of the plot, so he is an OC. I'm not quite done with appearances of other Disney characters yet either.

**Chapter eight: The Flight From Corona**

It began, as these things have a tendency to do, with a moments inattention. This was excusable as the guardsman, young and relatively inexperienced in these things was making his way to the wall in order to prepare for an assault from the outside. Having never personally experienced any creatures born of magic and the darkness that lurks in any heart, he could be forgiven for not realising that these creatures were quite capable of scaling walls, and had no need to obligingly come in through the main gate.

Moreover, even if the guardsman had realised that, it is likely he would have assumed that the weapons he'd been issued, the sword and halberd commonly used by the Coronan guard, would have been sufficient to fell such a foe. In this he would have been mistaken as his fellows soon found out. While a blow from a sword or halberd would definitely slow them down, it was insufficient to permanently stop them. An old pit-fighting aphorism that Cayleb had heard once would have been appropriate. It's not hard to knock 'em down, it's getting 'em to stay down that's the trick.

With one guard down, and already being converted into a Heartless himself, others came across the battlements, and launched themselves at the defenders. Under normal circumstances an enemy that could only cross the wall in ones and twos would not have been a substantial threat, but these were not the normal circumstances. The guard was still focussed on the gate.

And so the Guard found themselves out of position, facing the wrong direction and fighting an enemy that could ignore their positions and was virtually immune to their weapons. It was a testament to the courage and dedication of the guard that they fought on regardless, calling up their reserves and sounding a general alert to the populace just as soon as they realised the enemy was amongst them.

This too had been planned for, although nobody, including the planners had ever expected to use the plan. It called for a fighting retreat from the gates down several of the thoroughfares in order to establish choke-points to hem in an attacker, and allow the guard to bring its full fighting force to bear.

The plan was designed for regular opponents however and ultimately, it made no difference.

With battle raging, the first thing that went truly wrong was when one of the Heartless evaded the guard and broke into a house looking to follow the last command Maleficent gave to them, to be fruitful and multiply. She had grand plans to conquer the world, and minions would be useful, especially the kind that obeyed her every whim and couldn't even conceive of betraying her, as they were the products of their own worst imaginations.

This particular one had thrown himself through a window and pounced on the woman inside, intending to change her in the same fashion that his fellows had done to individuals living on farmsteads outside of the city, and that his fellows were currently doing to the city guard. The woman however had not given in easily, and in her flailing about trying to throw the monster that had leapt through her window off her, she had knocked an oil lamp off the table. It was late after all, and her eyesight wasn't the greatest, so she had been reading by lamplight, and had only just refilled it.

Even as her conversion to being a Heartless began, the burning oil fell on the ground, and quickly began to consume both the wooden floor and the furniture. From there it didn't take long at all to begin destroying the roof, and spreading the way fire does. While not being in any way conscious, fire too wanted to be fruitful and multiply.

The guard, already overwhelmed, was nearly broken by the addition of the environmental hazard of having to deal with a fire, but if the Coronan guard was not the best defence force ever created, they were hardy souls who loved their city and they knew their duty. In the dark of the night, lit only by slivers of pale moonlight, and the angry red blaze of fire, surrounded and beset by enemies they could barely hurt, the guard fought on.

* * *

Four people, one Scot, two Arendellians and one Coronan healer ran through the castle. Every time they passed through a corridor that had windows, they got glimpses of scenes out of some nightmare. Dark figures silhouetted against darkness, fire and screaming. They had no idea what was happening, but the fight or flight imperative was in full swing, and pointing straight at flight.

Erik the healer had guided them down through the castle, and towards the stables, reasoning that if an escape was to be made, it would have to be made by boat or by horse. The castle was in the center of the small island, and getting to a boat, assuming there were any left and the populace at large hadn't already evacuated would be difficult.

As they moved, servants were also awake and busy despite the late hour. Gathering materials, getting dressed and waking others. The commotion outside had obviously drawn their attention as well. The quartet ignored all of them as they moved. The Healer had reasoned that if they could find a horse or several, then they could use them to either get to the water, or to get out of the city. Either way, horses would improve their chances. Anna and Kristoff had agreed with Merida going along due to her lack of general knowledge of the castle anyway.

She had only insisted that they stop by the palace armoury to allow her to replace her missing sword and bow. If there was one thing she had no intention of doing, it was going into battle unarmed. Her weapons might not be terribly useful to fight these creatures of dark and shadow, but they made her feel better, and at the moment that was no small thing. The detour had taken no more than a few minutes, though the others had declined weapons.

Kristoff had never wielded anything more dangerous than a dinner knife, and even the ice-pick he usually carried around in Arendelle was more of a utility device than an actual weapon. There was nothing even close to similar in the palace armoury and he wasn't stupid enough to try and wield a weapon he had no experience in. However inept he might have been at combat, he was many times more proficient than his girlfriend who simply had no combat skills whatsoever. The ability to lob a snowball and hit a giant monster made of ice and snow would probably not be all that useful in Corona.

They reached the ground floor, and Erik quickly led them to a door, and begun ushering them through. "If you follow this corridor to its end, take a sharp right and head down the stairs, you'll come to the stables. There are usually spare horses tied up, and I don't think anyone will begrudge you taking some of them. I, at least, will hope that you bring them back once this crisis is over." He quickly explained. When he made no move to follow them through, Anna raised an eyebrow and he smiled at her. "This is where I part from you, Godspeed."

"Wait, no, you have to come with us," Anna said urgently, but the young Healer shook his head.

"I'm a healer Miss Anna, and my people are being hurt. I've seen you through to a fairly direct path to the stables, and now I'm going to go help the people that need me."

Kristoff interposed himself quickly. They didn't have time for a long debate. "Doc, I'll be the first to admit that I've never been one to help people without a good reason or a bribe, but this is insane. Whatever those things are, they're not likely to leave you alone just because you're a healer. You'll be killed, and you won't be able to help anyone."

"Nonetheless," he stated, firm in his convictions. "I have to try."

The two men looked at each other, and it was Kristoff that blinked first. Even at his most peaceful he could never have matched the bottomless serenity he saw in the other man's eyes. Erik was one of those people who knew exactly what their role in life was, and they were content with it.

"Okay, just try and be safe," he said before turning to go down the corridor, only to be stopped by Anna's hand on his arm.

"What, Kristoff, we can't just leave him," she said, eyes wide in surprise and something that felt vaguely like disappointment. "We have to help him."

Kristoff shook his head and began to move again, but Anna's grip was firm and the young Ice deliverer was once again reminded that Anna was much stronger than she looked. It was easy to miss when she was bounding around like she didn't have a care in the world, but this was the slim, petite woman who had hauled him up when he was hanging from a cliff side, and knocked a wolf back dozens of feet with nothing more than a lute. He'd actually thought he'd suffered a blow to the head and was seeing things when they'd been chased by a giant ice monster and Anna had pulled back an entire tree in order to whack it in the nose.

Given all that, he chose to reason with her instead. "Anna, he wants to stay, and we're going to have a hard enough time escaping the city as it is. We can't force anyone to come with us."

"I'm not leaving anyone behind," she responded, but he could see the truth in her eyes.

"Anna, I love you," he said softly pulling her close, and realised even as her eyes widened that it was the first time he'd said it. "But this city is in real trouble. People are going to be left behind, no matter what we do. If your spirit friend said we needed to find Elsa and Rapunzel to stop Maleficent, then you can help more people by leaving, no matter how hard it is."

Anna thought about this for a second, and swallowed hard. "You're playing dirty mister," she finally said, dropping her head. "But you're right."

She turned away from him, and went over to the Healer, and to his surprise gave him a solid hug. "Thank you for helping Merida. Good luck," was all she said for a few moments.

"Thank you Miss Anna," he responded with a smile, before turning smartly on his heel and breaking into a run towards the front of the castle. He didn't waste any time, and the last any of them saw of him was as he dashed through a door leading towards the sounds of screaming.

"This Is all very charming," Merida interjected sounding frustrated as Anna and Kristoff watched the Healer leave. "But we don't have time for everyone to act all lovey-dovey. The sounds of battle are getting closer, and we need to leave. Now."

"She's right. We need to find Elsa and Rapunzel, if everything hinges on the three of us being together, then that has to be our only goal," Anna said, and Kristoff could hear the change in her voice. He'd heard It before when she'd told him, in the nicest and politest way possible, that they were departing for North Mountain immediately. On a few occasions she'd spoken like that since then, and it was always when Anna was consciously becoming Princess Anna, who made decisions that sometimes affected entire kingdoms. He'd jokingly told her once that her Princess Voice made her sound like an old-fashioned school teacher, and she'd refused to speak with him for about a day. He smiled at the memory, and lead the four of them through the door.

* * *

The group was brought to a sudden halt with a flash of silver light, as Pocahontas appeared before them. "I bring news from the others."

"Where have you been?" Anna demanded without preamble, and only then noticed that Merida's eyes were wide as saucers and remembered that only Kristoff and herself could see the spirit. She was about to say something, make a joke about talking to thin air when Merida reached out an arm towards the silver figure and Anna's eyes widened in a mirror image of Merida's.

"You can see her?" she asked, her expression not unlike a stunned ox.

Merida gave her a look that made her feel a bit like an idiot. "Don't be daft woman," she Scottish girl snapped. "Of course I can see her, she's made of silver light."

The was a moments silence as even Pocahontas looked shocked at this. Anna was no less surprised as during her long explanation Pocahontas had explained that since she and the others, whom Anna had not yet met, were her ancestors and tied to her blood, only those who had shared her blood could possibly be aware of her. Of course there were exceptions, the ritual that Pocahontas had done to allow Kristoff to perceive her, but the odds of Merida having had such a ritual done for her were as unlikely as that she was family and had just suddenly shown up her by coincidence.

"You don't understand," Anna said quickly. "You're not supposed to be able to see her unless you're related by blood, or magical."

"I've been seeing strange things since I was a wee one," Merida said impatiently. She reached into her bag that she had the presence of mind to keep hold of when she had been separated from Duncan, an gently withdrew the Will O' the Wisp that had led her to this place to begin with. The little blue flamed creature seemed startled when Merida held her out to Anna. In fact, it seemed to almost flinch away from the other girl, much to Anna's surprise.

"This little critter has been guiding me here for weeks, and it's not the first Wisp I've ever seen. Last time I saw one, a Witch ended up turning my mother into a bear." She glossed over her own part in that debacle with the ease of someone who knew that the odds of these people ever comparing details with her mother on exactly how it had happened was minute. "Magic might not be in the Dunbroch blood, but I've had magic in my life for as long as I can remember."

Anna gave a helpless look to Pocahontas, who was in turn looking at Merida with a concerned expression. "That may very well be the reason, yet I sense that you represent something new added to these events. It can wait however." She turned to Anna, and her expression was grave. "You must hurry Anna. Maleficent had confronted Elsa and Rapunzel and has carried the day. Whatever she was looking for has been found."

"Are they all right?" Anna asked, and Pocahontas hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"There were injuries, but nothing severe. It is," she paused as if looking for the right word. "Distracting to try and be here, in this form with you, and there with them. We are drawn to different things, and some of us, such as Mulan are drawn more to Elsa or Rapunzel than to you. As long as you are separated, we won't be able to properly manifest. We aren't supposed to be here after all, and our power is limited at the moment."

Anna nodded. "We're on our way to get some horses, then we'll make a break for the city gates."

"Once you are outside, I will guide you to the others. May the wind speed your path." The silver light faded, and the hallway returned to darkness leaving just the three of them staring at each other in the lamplight. Kristoff shook his head as if he was shaking off water.

"Nope, still weird," he said and Merida chuckled at that. "Let's keep moving."

* * *

"Watch out," Merida snapped with authority as something that used to be a person, and wearing the clothes of a stablehand leapt out of the open door to the stables towards them. Her warning had been strictly pro-forma however, as she had no intention of letting another one of these things get the better of her. Even though she was still a little woozy from her earlier encounter, she had a far better idea of what she faced this time. Her blade, if not quite as comfortable in her hand as her lost one, was still a perfectly balanced weapon and it sang as she swung it towards the creature.

Her blows struck deep into its chest and head, and with a much better measure of her opponent than before, her blows were far more effective. That was not the same thing as saying that they actually had any long term effect, but it did allow her to down the heartless for a few moments. Kristoff, who had been right behind her with Anna stepped forward and seized the creature at neck and waist by its clothes and spun in a tight circle, heaving the thing out a nearby window.

"Not bad," Merida said with an admiring look. "I don't mean to upset either of you, but has anyone thought about whoever owns this place. I mean, this is a palace right? Should we be looking to get a King or Queen out with us?"

That brought both of her companions to a stop and they glanced at each other. Anna shook her head, "I've been so concerned about getting us out of here I didn't even think. Rapunzel's parents," she paused. "Can we go back for them? I mean it's not like the Healer, they'll probably come with us if we ask them."

"Maybe," Kristoff admitted. "But we don't know where they are, or if they've already been evacuated. We could lose our chance to get out, and if what Pocahontas said was right, we need to get you, Rapunzel and Elsa together to deal with this." It wasn't said in the tones of someone who was sure of what he was saying, and Anna was in some ways glad that this was a difficult choice. For all his willingness to let the Healer go off by himself, Kristoff didn't really want to abandon anyone whom he didn't have to.

"I think we have to keep going," Anna finally said. It wasn't the answer she wanted to give, he could hear that much in her voice. "If we knew where they were, that would be one thing, but this place is huge compared to Arendelle, and that assumes that the guards haven't already taken them somewhere. If they have, we'll never find them and those things will probably end up catching us."

"Fine," Merida said, and started moving again. "Just checking. Here we are." They turned right and headed down the stairs as instructed, and found a pair of large wooden doors. Normally these doors would be closed, in order to keep the smells of a horse-stable from offending the sensibilities of anyone in the castle, but one of the doors had been battered open, presumably the creature they'd confronted, and they quickly passed through it.

They found themselves inside a massive stable. Despite there only being half a dozen horses currently in various stables, there was room for dozens of them, and the doors to the city were open. Even as they looked around they heard an almighty whinny and three pairs of eyes focussed on a horse, pure white and wearing what appeared to be a variation of the City Guards uniform as it spun on its legs in a way that no horse should have been able to, and kicked one of the shadow-creatures square in the face sending it flying.

"He's magnificent," Anna noted as the horse chased the thing out of the stables before returning. It noticed them as soon as it did, and quickly trotted over to them, managing to somehow look suspicious. The large equine face came very close to Anna, but she had dealt with horses before, and gently put a hand under its chin, giving him a scratch.

"Aww, see," Anna said as it huffed in her face and relaxed into the scratching. "He's just a big softie like Sitron back home."

"Sitron?" Kristoff asked as he and Merida began saddling the horses.

"Yeah, that's what we ended up calling Hans' horse after he left it behind." There was a note of sadness in her voice, and the big white horse nuzzled her face in sympathy. "You're right," she told him. "No point in dwelling. What's your name?"

"You know he's a horse right?" Kristoff said with a smile, only to look round to find the horse preening proudly, and also showing off the gold emblazoned name-tag around his neck.

"Maximus?" Anna asked, and the horse nodded. Anna cocked her head, as did Kristoff. "Does he remind you of Sven?I mean a lot?"

"Yeah, he kind of does," Kristoff responded. "So Max, are you ready to ride? We need to get out of here and get Anna to Elsa and Rapunzel."

The reaction to the name of Rapunzel was dramatic. The horse came to an almost complete stop, turned his head to look at Kristoff and nodded vigorously. He then pointed his entire body at the door, and mimed heading in that direction, before returning to Anna and presenting his side to her and kneeling down on his front legs allowing her to climb up easily.

Anna just shook her head with a smile, and wondered if it was a family thing that she and Rapunzel both knew strangely intelligent animals. Next thing it would turn out that they both liked ducks, or had a propensity for hitting themselves in the head. She climbed on to Maximus and put the thought aside as she heard a scream from beyond the doors.

She glanced over to where Merida and Kristoff were both working hard to get horses saddled up and a hand drifted down to pat Maximus on the neck. It would soon be time to ride.

* * *

The three of them thundered through the streets of Corona, through ash and fire and screams. Despite being the newest of the three of them to the city, Merida lead the way as she was by far the most confidant horseman, or woman of the three of them. Head held low, sword in one hand and guiding the horse mostly with her knees and a single hand on the reigns she aimed them straight at the main gate, eschewing subtlety for shock as she used the larger weight of the horse, and its momentum to batter her way through obstacles.

The horse she was riding, taken from the royal stables was a fine horse. He was no Duncan however, and Merida felt a pang of sorrow and wondered what had happened to the horse she'd owned since she was a child. They'd gotten separated during the battle with the creature outside the city and Anna had told her that her horse was nowhere in sight when she and Kristoff had found her. Part of her hoped that the old horse would have been smart enough to make his escape, but another part of her, the part that had ridden him virtually every day since her father had gifted him to her, didn't believe Duncan would abandon her.

She shied away from where that thought had to lead given that Anna and Kristoff had found her by the roadside, and the snarl of the Dunbroch warcry was loosed from her lips as a Heartless scampered across her path. Her weapon might not be able to kill the damn things, but it could certainly hurt them and she swung the blade with wicked glee as they raced towards the exit of the city.

Behind her, Anna and Kristoff were riding side by side, though neither was in a mood to talk about anything, even if the speed they were travelling at allowed for casual conversation. The white stallion beneath Anna, the appropriately named Maximus was riding hard, but quite obviously was capable of more. He was moderating his speed for the slower horse carrying Kristoff.

Kristoff for his part was exhausted. It had been a long day the previous day, followed by a short and restless night and another long day, and here they were riding hell bent for leather in the middle of the night through what seemed to him like a vision from hell. Everywhere there was the sound of clashing steel, screams and things breaking as the guard fought valiantly to rescue people from the clutches of the creatures that had beset them. Part of him itched to help, but Anna had been right.

If this was part of Maleficent's plan, and Anna, Elsa and Rapunzel were the key to stopping it, then they couldn't afford to risk their lives here. They had to shut out the sounds of people fighting, dying and being converted in order to get Anna out of the city. It wasn't something she was resolved to even now, he only had to glance at her face to see that.

Anna however, would do what she had to do. He'd learned that much during their ill-fated trip up the North Mountain. It didn't matter to her if she was manifestly unsuited for such a trip, it was her duty to do it. For her sister and her people, and Anna knew her duty. She might not like it, and he had no doubt that it would haunt her in the days to come, but for now she was riding just as hard as he was.

The ride to the gate seemed to take forever, though it probably was no more than minutes as they dodged debris and monsters, with Merida clearing the road with a vengeance. The young Scot thundered towards the gate, only to slow to a dismayed halt as she realised that it was closed, and she swore under her breath.

"Of course it's closed," Kristoff said a few moments later, obviously having made the same mental leap as she had as he and Anna pulled up next to Merida. "We told them to close it to protect the city from monsters." The red glow of fire made his face look dark as he looked back in regret as the beautiful city burned.

He slid off his horse and handed the reins to Anna. "I'll open the gates, as soon as they are, ride." He didn't wait for an acknowledgement and ran over to the gatehouse even as Merida began circling the two horses and Anna. Kristoff reached the gatehouse, only to find it abandoned, and he decided he didn't have the time to find a guardsman to unlock it for him. He took half a step back, heaved and kicked putting his booted foot into the door right at the hinged lever that functioned in lieu of a doorknob.

The wood splintered, and two more kicks saw it come apart in a spray of splinters and dust, and he quickly entered the gatehouse. Like many city gates, the doors themselves had to be manually opened or closed, but once closed and barred a levered stone block in a secured gatehouse prevented them from opening. It would force an intruder to batter the gates down or scale the walls in sufficient numbers to take and hold the gatehouse.

Of course, Kristoff thought to himself, if you can kick the door in, then all the security in the world wasn't going to help. He quickly pulled the lever releasing the block, and headed back outside to unbar the gate. He worked as fast as he could, always mindful of the chaos happening all around him and relying on the fact that Merida and Anna would warn him if they spotted anything. It didn't take long to unbar the gates, and he took a deep breath.

Their entire plan hinged on the fact that these things had scaled the walls, and hadn't bothered with the main gate, and so wouldn't have an army of troops waiting on the bridge. They didn't have the time, and frankly weren't willing to take the risk of trying to get onto the battlements to check, so this was the big moment. He exhaled the breath he'd been holding and pulled open the gate.

He felt his heart skip a beat as he saw the empty causeway and realised that they were actually going to get away with it.

"Merida, Anna, " he shouted as he ran back to his own horse. "Go!"

Merida didn't hesitate for a second, and if Anna's reactions were a bit slower off the mark, Maximus was paying attention and took off at virtually the same instant. Kristoff reached his horse as Merida, and then Anna flew through the gate, leaving trails of dust in their wake as they escaped the holocaust happening around them.

Anna looked back to make sure Kristoff was doing okay, and her eyes widened In terror as she saw a dark figure crouching down behind him.

"Kristoff," she screamed, pulling hard on the reins. Maximus slowed to a trot and Anna turned more fully in the saddle, trying to pull the horse round. From where she sat she had a perfect view of a moment that would haunt her forever, as the shadowy figure leapt on Kristoff's shoulders, pulling him to the ground hard.

Even has he slammed into the ground, a beefy elbow was in motion slamming into the head of the creature, and stunning it for a moment. Kristoff scrambled to his feet, and made a leap for his horse. He came close. A second shadow creature intercepted him, and the first one had recovered from the blow, and seized one of his legs. Like sharks scenting blood in the water, more of them came to join the fray and across several dozen yards his eyes met Anna's.

Kristoff had a moment, and only a moment in which the last couple of months flashed through his mind. His meeting with Anna, the slowly growing appreciation for her quirky nature, hiding a whim of steel. He knew that boys like him didn't really get the happy endings with girls like Anna, but by God he had enjoyed the last couple of months. A small smile graced his lips as the surprisingly heavy creatures slammed down on his back, and he accepted his fate. He wouldn't be able to fight them all off, and his horse had already fled in the commotion. Even if he could escape this group, there was no way to he'd be able to outrun them long enough to escape.

"Maximus, run. Get her to Elsa!" he shouted, before letting loose with elbows and a vicious headbutt. He might have accepted his fate, but he had no intention of going down willingly. Even as he fought, the creatures struck back, slamming him back into the ground, and one of them seized his face, exhaling dark smoke into Kristoff's face.

"No," Anna screamed and hauled on the reins, but Maximus was both smarter than she expected, and more willing to see the big picture, and the horse turned and began to race at full speed. Anna pulled again to no avail. Her scream had turned to sobs as she futily tried to control Max. "Stop you stupid horse, I have to save him. Please stop."

Maximus ignored her, judging rightly that while she would have climbed down if given the chance and that at full speed she wouldn't risk the injury and possible death of trying to leap of. Had Anna known, she would have realised that it broke Maximus' heart to hear her cry and scream at him to turn around as they practically flew down the causeway and into the open grassland and gently rolling hills of Corona.

Anna hadn't even looked to see where he was going, her eyes locked on Kristoff at first, and then on the gate once she could no longer see him. Her arms pulling on the reins of her horse in a mechanical motion that had no conscious thought behind it. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she cried in great heaving sobs.

They shot off the causeway and onto the grass, ignoring both the Highroad and the various dirt tracks. There would be time to figure out exactly what direction they needed to go once they were properly clear of the city, and Maximus had no intention of stopping until they were far enough away that the human on his back wouldn't be able to do something suicidally noble such as going back.

They crested a nearby hill, and Maximus finally pulled back from the headlong charge and back into a slow canter as they caught up with Merida, and the three of them gazed back at Corona.

From this distance, all they could see in the night was fire and smoke, and the sound of screams carried faintly on the wind. Boats were launching in all directions, but here and there they could see even they were floundering, having been boarded before setting off by the increasing number of creatures. Being that they were essentially an army of darkness that grew in number with every defender that fell, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Anna slid off Maximus, and took a shaky step towards the city before collapsing onto her knees, only to find Merida there to catch her, and with an inarticulate scream of rage and pain, she buried her head in the other girls shoulder, even as the city continued to burn.

Corona had fallen.

TBC…


	10. Chapter 9: Darkness Rising

**eDiNbUrgh:** Hi there, thanks for commenting, hope you continue to enjoy it.

**Funvince: **I'm glad you're enjoying it. I just love the idea of everything happening more or less in the same universe. Regarding Rapunzel, when I was putting the ideas for this story together, I wanted Anna, Elsa and Rapunzel to all have agency, and Elsa's powers are a bit of a game-breaker normally.

A friendly warning. The next few chapters are undeniably dark, with some very un-Disney like violence.

**Chapter Nine: Darkness Rising  
**

"Well I am happy to say after years and years of asking," Eugene said about an hour and a half and a few yawns later. "I finally said yes."

There was a dutiful round of chuckles from his audience, and the punch to his shoulder that he received from his loving wife wasn't nearly strong enough to bruise. He was quite sure of that, even as he held up his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, I asked her."

An arm snaked around his and pulled him close. "And we're living happily ever after," Rapunzel said, then frowned as she looked at where they were and what they'd just been through. "Well, for the most part anyway. And that's the story."

"It's a good story," Flynn admitted, a gentle smile on his face. He'd been an attentive listener for the entire story, reacting appropriately at all the right points, and if at the very end his eyes had misted over slightly, then he was quite sure no one could have faulted him. Having said that, it was time to comment. "Very engaging and romantic, and sacrificing your life for your love. Other than that rubbish about the magic hair, it's a brilliant story. That bit was absurd, I mean hair that glows when you sing a song and can heal injuries? I can buy the friendly relationship with the lizard, I can even buy the randomly breaking into song, but the magic hair is just a step too far."

"You've seen the shadow creature that Hans summoned, this Maleficent thing, why so sceptical?" Eugene asked lazily. His own reaction to Rapunzels magic had hardly been the stuff of legend, and it wasn't as if the other man had actually seen any magic done yet.

It was Flynn's turn to frown and he said nothing for a moment as if organising his thoughts. "I suppose I find it easier to believe in dark magic than healing magic," he finally said. "Maybe that's cynical of me, but the idea that evil has access to magic just seems more likely than good people."

Rapunzel sighed, and her eyes locked with Elsa, who raised a single eyebrow in return. "I've got to learn how to do that," Rapunzel said before nodding. "Elsa, would you be a dear and show Flynn some leg?"

Flynn's jaw dropped in an almost comical way at the way she put it, but his head obediently turned to where Elsa was pulling the left leg of her breeches up, showing the injury he'd bandaged up. There was a faintly amused smile on her face, and he couldn't help but feel he was heading straight towards being the butt of some sort of joke. His thoughts slithered to a halt as she uncovered completely smooth, apparently uninjured skin. There was the faintest trace of dried blood, but that was nothing more than residue. Without even being aware of it, he found himself moving over and crouching down by her leg, and his eyes met hers.

"May I?" he asked, his right hand reaching out hesitantly, and after a long moment Elsa nodded. He gently pressed his fingers into her leg, feeling the unblemished skin, even though he knew for a fact that the gash she'd suffered should have taken at least a week of uninterrupted bed-rest to heal. His mind ran in circles as he found himself faced with two insurmountable and contradictory facts.

On the one hand, Elsa had been injured, and injuries didn't just vanish. On the other hand, her injuries had vanished. It was absurd on the face of it, but when confronted with only one explanation, however outlandish, he had to accept it. He suddenly realised that he'd had his hand resting on her leg for a good long while as he considered the situation, and his eyes flicked up to meet hers.

She was apparently well aware of that fact, as her face was ever so slightly flushed, and he snatched his hand back as if it was on fire. Neither of them noticed the look that passed from Rapunzel to Eugene, or the smirk he sent back.

"So are you going to freak out?" Rapunzel asked into the sudden silence. "Because Eugene didn't, I mean not really, and I kind of want to see someone freak out about it."

Eugene laughed at that, even as Flynn's eyes stayed locked on Elsa. He cleared his throat and finally tore his gaze away from her, even as she rolled the leg of her breeches back down again. "No, I don't think I am." He finally said turning to the young Princess and ignoring her disappointed pout.

She was surprised at the huge grin on his face. "Mind you, I might just come over there and hug you," he said cheerfully.

"Uh, okay. Why would you be doing that exactly?" she responded with something that managed to mix concern with amusement. There was obviously no threat, and it wasn't as if she didn't like hugs, but nothing she'd seen out of the taciturn fellow had suggested he was a hugger.

"Because when I woke up this morning, there was no magic in the world, then there was evil magic and the world was a more miserable place, and now there's healing magic. No matter what else happens, today the world has good, happy magic in it, and that makes it a better day than yesterday." There was such cheer in his voice that it made the contrast with his normal behaviour even more evident. For what Rapunzel had considered a major, but ultimately unspectacular event of healing her cousin, appeared to have completely revitalised his view of the world.

"You are a strange man," Rapunzel said looking at him for a long moment.

He glanced momentarily at Elsa, "So I've been told."

"Does that change your opinion about Royals at all?" She asked, thinking back to his earlier comments. She didn't know why, but his obvious and bluntly professed dislike for Royalty bothered her. If not for her own sake, then probably for Elsa's as he was still in the dark about her own status. Perhaps she could use this as a lever to try and soften his opinion ahead of the inevitable revelation.

"No, not really," he responded, dashing her hopes. He noted the way her expression fell and shrugged. "Changes my opinion about you though, if it helps."

"What have you got against Royals?" she finally demanded. "You did promise to tell us your story if we told you ours."

"Deals a deal I suppose," he said with a sigh before sitting down next to his pack and grabbing the water-skin. It was beginning to run low and he made a mental note to refill it before going to bed. The faintest hint of light beginning to touch the eastern horizon suggested they'd been up far too late anyway. He shrugged mentally, it wasn't as if they couldn't afford to sleep in. "I don't like Royalty because by en large, they take far more than they give, and if they decide to take something you value, and you're not rich and powerful, you can't stop them. There's exceptions of course, royals who actually go out and do things, like exploring ancient castles, but mostly, I think the world would be better off with less Royals."

There was a genuine bitterness that he couldn't keep out of his voice as he spoke. It wasn't the whole story that much was obvious, and even now he wasn't sure he could share all of it with them. There were promises he'd made, secrets he'd been sworn too, and he might be many things, but an oath breaker wasn't one of them. Still, he could tell them almost all of the story.

Even as the thoughts flitted through his mind, Elsa's hand snaked over and placed itself gently on his shoulder, and as he glanced at her he saw compassion in her eyes. "If you really don't want to tell us," she began but he shook his head.

"It's okay Elsa, I gave my word, and I try and keep it when I do. Might as well tell the story to the three of you."

He was about to begin his own tale when a voice interrupted the peace of their campsite. "Story time, how very touching."

The voice, rich with venom and malice was such an intrusion into the pleasant little campfire that it hit all of them like a shock of cold water. But where Elsa and Rapunzel hesitated, neither Eugene nor Flynn did. Both for their own reasons had plenty of experience with the occasional need to do sudden violence.

Eugene surged to his feet, arms protectively wrapping around Rapunzel and sweeping her behind him, even as his hand snapped down and seized the ever present frying pan. Flynn on the other hand moved on the offensive, and spun and moved like a striking serpent, his left hand reaching up to pull his hood over his head, his right drawing his sword. He turned even as he did that, and the point of his blade was steady as a rock as finely honed flight or fight reflexes kicked in and pointed straight at 'fight'.

Unfortunately for him, Maleficent had expected an attack, and she simply raised her staff. As fast as Flynn was getting off the mark, the shadows were faster still, seizing both his wrists and pulling them up and apart. It was so quick, and sudden that if not for the shadows holding him up, Flynn would have stumbled and fallen, instead he found himself hanging in the air in front of the tall dark witch.

Her lips pulled apart in something that couldn't ever be called a smile as she contemplated Flynn even as Eugene kept himself between Rapunzel and Maleficent, and Elsa surged to her feet. "They're so brave at first are they not? All fire and energy and willingness to fight?" A finger gently traced around his neck, the threat obvious to everyone present, and Elsa's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Let him go," her command rang out, and even as he was concentrating on the evil witch in front of him, Flynn's eyes narrowed at the snap of command in her voice. Maleficent chuckled and waved the staff, spinning him in place so that he was facing Elsa.

"As you wish," Maleficent said, and flicked her staff again. Flynn shot sideways slamming hard into Eugene and Rapunzel, and for one precious moment, Elsa's attention was drawn away from the evil creature before her. In that instant she flowed forward, fast and silent as the shadows that surrounded her and an hand seized Elsa's wrist in a grip that felt like iron. "It's you I came for anyway."

Eugene was still rubbing his head where the three of them had crashed to the ground when a vortex of smoke and shadow engulfed Maleficent and Elsa. It took mere moments, but once the air went still again, there were only three of them at the campsite.

"Elsa," Flynn shouted as he rolled himself back to his feet. "Where did she go? where did Maleficent take her?"

Rapunzel and Eugene shook their heads as the three of them stared at the empty campsite in despair.

* * *

Elsa had never been teleported. She didn't know what the effect was, or how Maleficent had caused it, but she did know that something deep within her rebelled at what had just happened. It was like an icy fist had reached deep into her very soul and had wrenched it, dragging her body along for the ride. It only lasted a moment, for which she was grateful as she doubted she would have lasted more than a handful of moments longer, and as the scenery around her changed, from the camp they'd set up, to a clearing deep within a forest, she felt her strength leave her.

Had she been able to compare notes with Hans on the discomfort of stepping miles through shadow, she might have found to her surprise that there was at least one thing she and the Prince from the Southern Isles agreed on, this was no way to travel. Maleficent released her wrist as they came out of the vortex, and Elsa fell to the ground, her strength spent from the trip. Added on top of the exhaustion of the day, and she found a headache throbbing behind her eyes as part of her screamed to just pass out and be done with it.

Fortunately, she had no inclination towards letting her body be the final decision maker, and with an effort that was as supreme as it was sublime, she pushed herself to her knees, and then to her feet, even as Maleficent watched from a few feet away. Whatever she had brought Elsa here for, she was obviously in no great rush to achieve it.

"Look at you," the evil Queen said, her voice chill and precise. "You can barely stand. I had almost hoped for a challenge here."

Her arm flicked out, and the staff seemed to glow in the dark as a bolt of shadow lanced out and hit her dead center in the chest. There was enough force behind it to knock Elsa clean off her feet, and the young Snow Queen was left panting for breath, trying to get back to her feet. At least the shadow bolt hadn't pierced her skin, and Elsa felt an unusual sense of dread as she realised just how easy it might have been for Maleficent to kill her.

"Is this the great enemy I spent so many centuries preparing for. With a prophecy of my doom hanging over me, I was expecting more from one of your little triumvirate." She waited until Elsa had levered herself back to her feet and flung another bolt of darkness at her. Unlike the first time however, a small shaped disc of ice appeared between Elsa and the dark energy.

'_Triumvirate? Prophecy?_' Elsa's thoughts came quickly even as she reacted to the attack. Whatever was going on, it was obvious that she didn't have nearly enough information to be formulating plans, and Elsa's breath came in ragged bursts as she put her experiences in the castle to good use, putting the stray thoughts aside. Rather than trying to block Maleficent's attacks, she instead created a pane of shaped ice. The bolt hit it, and slid off, shooting past Elsa and slamming into a tree-trunk just beyond the clearing. Despite the pain in her chest where the previous bolt had hit, and the deep, heavy breaths she was taking, her eyes were firm and cold, and levelled at Maleficent like Ballistae.

"Why are you trying to kill me?" Elsa demanded between heaving breaths. "Is it Hans? Has he got a hold over you? Because we can protect you against him." She had her doubts about it, as there was something about Maleficent that made her spine tingle in genuine fear, but it was possible that she was just his servant.

In that case, being able to turn her enemies against each other was just good strategy, and if not, then it might buy her a bit of time to regain her balance, her breath and a bit of her energy. Rapunzel had done wonders in healing the physical damage from the fall, but it had been a very long day, almost a full twenty-four hours since she'd slept, and she was exhausted.

Not enough that she'd been up for so long, she'd also spent a good chunk of the day riding, then exploring, and doing battle. Sleep would be nice, but she had a feeling that she had at least one major confrontation to go before she could drift off into dreamland. So any extra time Maleficent was willing to give her, she'd take and be grateful about it.

Maleficent cackled at that. "Work for him? Hardly. I merely loaned him a fraction of my power in order to reclaim my body. He was a small man, with small ambitions."

"Then who are you?" Elsa demanded. For all her many and varied issues, she was a Queen, and had long since developed the proper snap of command when she needed it. There was an art to it, one of the many things her father had taught her in between trying to control her powers. How to be kind, and courteous, but to never let people who worked for you forget who was in charge. Maleficent however, did not seem overly impressed.

"You truly do not know?" she asked, and the first tinge of something other than supreme arrogance touched her voice. Elsa kept silent, leaving the ball in the older woman's court. "Astonishing. Very well, I shall tell you. You had an ancestor once, one who failed to do me the courtesy of inviting me to the celebration of the birth of his daughter. So I punished him, by condemning her daughter to death."

She waved her hand, and for the first time genuine anger appeared on her face. "But there were meddlers, there always are, and instead she slept rather than dying. Her prince," the voice turned ugly and hateful. "He chased me to my castle, and destroyed my body. It took me centuries to regain my power, and plan the death of all those who would call themselves Aurora's kin."

There was a moment of silence as dark power crackled around Maleficent, and then Elsa just shook her head. "Really?" she asked, her tone both disbelieving and faintly mocking. "You've got all this power, you've spent centuries planning and you're trying to kill me because you got snubbed for a birthday? That's remarkably petty."

"Careful young Queen," Maleficent responded, the anger in her voice obvious. "I will not be mocked by anyone, least of all you, daughter of Aurora's line."

"And that's another thing. I'd never even heard of Aurora until you mentioned her," Elsa snapped, a matching anger seeping into her own voice. "You've spent centuries looking for revenge when you could be doing something useful with that time and power. You're looking for revenge against someone who has done you no wrong, to avenge a slight so small you could have just got over it. You're acting like a child."

Maleficent snarled in rage, and she flung her arms forward, half a dozen bolts of darkness shooting towards the Snow Queen who reacted as quickly as she could to deflect or block all of the attacks. She succeeded, but the last one was so close that she flinched, and as before a moments inattention held a price, as Maleficent strode forward behind her attack. Her staff slammed into the young girl like a sledgehammer and knocked her clean off her feet.

'_Oh well done Elsa,_' she thought to herself as she slammed into the ground and cried out in pain. _'Well, you made her mad. Now what?'_

The staff slammed down towards her midsection, and she rolled aside. She felt the staff miss her by inches, and flung an arm towards Maleficent, a shard of ice heading straight towards Maleficent and forcing her to defend herself. Elsa used the surge of adrenaline being pushed into a combat situation had given her to scramble back to her feet and face the dark Queen.

For all that Maleficent had to spend effort to block Elsa's shot, it was a minor effort, but it was enough. In a reversal of their earlier situation, it had caused a momentary distraction, and that was all the opening the young Queen needed. A pillar of ice rose beneath Maleficent, staggering her and drawing her attention even as she lightly stepped aside. As she did, Elsa leapt forward, arms towards Maleficent and hands reaching for her face.

She had thought a lot about the last time she'd used her powers in battle. During the attack on her palace of Ice on North Mountain she had been trying not to kill anyone. Even the giant Snowlem that Olaf had christened Marshmallow had been mostly defensive in nature. Sure, he had chased Anna and Kristoff down the mountain, but even Anna was willing to admit that she'd thrown the first snowball in that battle. Moreover, the giant Snowlem had let them go while it held their lives, quite literally by a thread.

Maleficent wasn't here to capture her however, and Elsa was faced with a threat that apparently could not be bargained with, could not be reasoned with, and would not stop until she was dead. Even before the battle at North Mountain she had always tried to be careful with her powers. When she had faced off with the Wessleton soldiers in her palace, she had used her ice somewhat indirectly, to trap or manoeuvre. That wasn't to say that she wouldn't have killed them if pushed, and while she would never admit it to a living soul, Hans reminding her that she wasn't a monster had probably stopped her from becoming one.

Here for the first time Elsa took the metaphorical gloves off, summoned her powers to her, and fed them through the rage and fear she was feeling and encased Maleficent's head entirely in ice.

The dark witch screamed in anger and pain as the ice sealed around her head, and she staggered forward. It didn't last long however as she brought both her hands to her face, one still holding the staff, and forced her power into the ice. Fast as it was, it still seemed to take ages before the ice turned dark and cracked, before shattering into fragments.

The rage on Maleficent's face at having been played like that, even for a moment was terrifying to behold, or it would have been had there been anyone left in the clearing to see it. A sneer appeared on the dark witch's face as she realised that Elsa had taken the opportunity to flee, and she raised her voice.

"Run Elsa," she called into the dark forest. "Run fast, but I will find you, and when I do I will kill you."

* * *

Elsa ran as hard and fast as her body would let her. At night, in an unfamiliar forest, it was amazing she made it as far as she did before she stumbled, in this case tripping over a root she didn't see. Somewhere behind her, she heard the sounds of anger and rage as Maleficent tried to smoke her out by the simple expedient of breaking things, in this case trees. For all her own power, and Elsa had no doubt that in any kind of straight fight she would lose, especially coming of a long and exhausting day. It might have been different had she been at the top of her game, fully rested and ready, but there was something tickling at the back of her mind that suggested that maybe not even then.

It was the reference to a prophecy, she finally decided. If Maleficent was working towards a plan, then she would have taken care to not show herself openly unless she believed she had enough raw power to overcome any obstacles that would be thrown in her path, and if Elsa had no idea what prophecy the other woman was referring to then it didn't mean that Maleficent wasn't planning to defeat her anyway.

In which case it was likely she did have the sheer power to take her in a clean fight. Elsa's power was impressive enough when used against normal people, but Maleficent had powers of her own, and the level of fine control she seemed to have put Elsa's efforts to shame. What's more, the dark Queen had more or less admitted that she had been around for centuries, and that meant she had an experience edge that was far too wide to overcome with youth and enthusiasm.

Maleficent had her own share of mental blind spots however, and apparently didn't enjoy being talked back to. _'I can use that,'_ she thought to herself even as she tried to push herself to her feet. _'She may be powerful, but she isn't some kind of omniscient creature. I can hide, and run and if pushed, I can probably get her to make a mistake.'_

Sweat dripped from her forehead and her hair had come loose at some point, and she knew that she was well past her exhaustion limit. Her arms felt like they had no strength in them, and simply getting to her feet was an exercise in pain. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to run much further, she instead went with the other side of her flight instinct, and pushed herself deep into a hollow in a nearby tree. It wasn't a perfect hiding place by any means, but it would do, and Elsa tried to take deep slow breaths as her heart hammered in her chest.

A small bitter part of her thought that this was not what she had in mind when it came to going on an adventure. However she had limited options. She could continue to hide, and hope Maleficent didn't find her. She could run, if she could find the strength, or she could confront her, and probably lose. None of those options were good ones. If only she had some way of signalling the others.

At least in theory she could try sending up a giant snowflake as a beacon, not too dissimilar to the one she'd created during the thaw of Arendelle after Anna had given her the key to controlling her powers, but setting aside that this forest wasn't exactly covered in snow and ice, there was another problem. She glanced down at where her hands were gripping the trunk of the tree, and noted the ice climbing slowly up the trunk.

Fear was the enemy, and Elsa was honest enough to admit that she was deathly afraid at the moment. She was losing control of her powers, and she could not afford to send Corona into a deep freeze. Setting aside the fact that it wouldn't help beat Maleficent, the long term damage it would do to her attempts to prove to the world at large that she was in fact in control of her abilities would be catastrophic.

It had taken weeks, and no few demonstrations to the British and French ambassadors to convince them that the summer freeze of Arendelle was a one off event, not to be repeated, and no threat to their nations or their commerce. Neither ambassador had been blind to the implications of her powers, or the way they could be used as both weapon of war and as a bargaining chip to keep her own nation safe, and the treaties she had signed affirmed that her powers would be essentially considered a weapon of war, and treated the same way as an army or a navy.

Freezing Corona, even if Rapunzel wasn't likely to be overly offended, treaded dangerously close to an act of war, and she closed her eyes, concentrating hard on her thoughts of Anna, her love for her sister, and the warmth and affection the younger girl had never ceased to offer her older sister. She thought of the teasing jokes that Anna had started making about her age, and the shared laughter about any number of topics and the spread of ice slowed at the very least.

A dark and sinister laugh echoed through the forest, much closer than it was before, and Elsa squeezed her eyes shut, and concentrated on happy memories, while planning her escape.

* * *

The game of hide and seek between Elsa and Maleficent seemed to last hours. Every time the dark Queen came close to finding her, Elsa would use what little energy she had husbanded to find a new place to run to, but each time it took longer and the chance of getting spotted grew, and eventually her luck had to run out. She would use her powers to generate a distraction, and use that to dash off to find a new place to hide. Whatever powers Maleficent had, she was still relying on mortal senses to find her.

Elsa kept Anna in her mind during those times when she was hiding and resting. Kept her sisters smiles and laughter in her head in order to keep her powers in check and not give away her position, but it became harder and harder as time wore on. She had long since passed fatigue, and was well into exhaustion by now, and it took its toll.

Her thoughts became foggy, and her reactions slowed down. Her escapes became fewer in number, and she waited longer before risking them trying desperately to save energy for the inevitable confrontation. In retrospect it should have ended sooner. Elsa, her vision swimming as she leaned against a tree couldn't move any further if she tried, her final energy expended.

"And so our chase ends," Maleficent sneered as she strode through the forest towards her. Elsa simply sank to the ground, her back to the tree she'd been leaning against. If this was her end, then the least she could do was face it defiantly, and she put a smirk on her face by force of will.

"You're a coward Maleficent," she said, and took a small amount of pleasure of seeing that shot hit home. The tall woman's eyebrows bunched, and her teeth were bared in something that could never be called a smile.

"So brave for one with nothing left to fight with. Your life is in my hands," came the retort, even as Elsa found herself lifted by the same shadow tentacles that had earlier been used to immobilise Flynn. She hung there, allowing herself to sag into the tentacles forcing them to do the actual work of holding her up, and Maleficent came very close, their faces inches apart. "And even now, you mock me?"

"Yes," came the defiant, if exhausted response. "Because it's true. You've got all this power, and you chased a tired, exhausted girl through a forest, determined to hurt her for a crime she didn't commit."

She turned her head to where she could see the faint stirrings of daylight through the trees. She had long since lost track of the time but there was something about seeing that first change of colour in the sky that gave her hope. What was it Anna had said when they were children, the Sky was awake, and at least for a few minutes longer, so was Elsa.

"You're the worst kind of coward too. No honourable battle for Maleficent," Elsa continued, her tongue cutting with surgical precision. "No going after the actually guilty, just going after anyone you can. Mock you? I pity you."

It was evidently the wrong thing to say as Maleficent backhanded Elsa hard. The shadow tentacles released her, and she crashed to the ground, and stayed there, having neither the inclination, nor frankly the energy to get back up. "Yup, just what I thought," Elsa mumbled, her face lying in the cool mud and dirt of the floor of the forest. "Just a big bully."

"I was going to give you a swift death," Maleficent said in something close to her normal tone. It was her eyes that told the true story, and they practically shone with rage. "But instead I think I will punish you for your insolence instead." She raised her hand and the tentacles seized Elsa by the wrists again, hauling her into the air, helpless before the darkness. A smooth, green tinged hand caressed Elsa's face, and the young Queen didn't even have the strength left to flinch away. When she refused to respond further, Maleficent spread her hands, and the tentacles began pulling in opposite directions.

It didn't take long for the pressure to become painful, and she grunted hoarsely. It wasn't until she heard a sickening sound, and her right arm seemed to pop out of her shoulder that she began to scream however. Apparently taking that as a victory, the pressure eased, and the blinding hot pain reduced to deep throbbing ache as her dislocated shoulder was allowed some respite.

"Would you like that Elsa, to become one of my mindless servants, to obey my every whim while your mind screams in defiance, completely helpless to resist?" the voice was velvety soft, and Elsa found that she had a hitherto undiscovered level of disgust for the creature in front of her. "I think that would be a fitting punishment for you. To become my servant, and to kill your friends in my name. Can you imagine the looks on their faces, and such delicious irony to slay the daughters of Aurora with one of their own."

"You," Elsa coughed, but forced the words out. "You talk too much." Even as her head fell forward again, she saw the faintest hint of silver.

Without any idea of what was happening, she felt herself falling to the ground, and for a long time she just lie there, even as she could hear the sounds of battle around her, she just ignored them. Her whole world had shrunk down to the piece of dirt she was lying in, and that faintest hint of silver she could see all around her, and the pain from her shoulder.

As if from a great distance, she heard Maleficent saying something about spirits, and she heard the thunder of hoof beats through the forest. She ignored them too, lacking the energy to care. She wanted to sleep, more than anything else, but found herself unable, as strength seemed to flow back into her and she raised her head fractionally off the forest floor.

Standing before her, and more importantly between her and Maleficent was a person made out of silver light. Elsa couldn't see much about her, except that her entire bearing was that of royalty. She glanced past the silver apparition, which somehow made her feel better with every passing moment, to see the twisted hatred on the face of Maleficent and suddenly, almost instinctively knew who this had to be.

"Aurora," Maleficent spat, confirming her guess.

"Maleficent," the long dead Princess responded, her voice calm and precise. To Elsa's ears there was a serenity and kindness to it as well that could only have come a lifetime of knowing oneself. "This has to stop."

"It will stop, when you and your get have been wiped from the world."

There was a sad note to Aurora's voice, and if Elsa couldn't see the other woman's face, her entire body language was similarly one of sadness. "I'm sorry Maleficent, for the slights that you have suffered, but I will not let you hurt my family."

For a long moment there was silence between the two of them, and the sound of horses Elsa had heard earlier became much louder. She could barely see several figures arrive on horseback and Aurora raised her chin in defiance.

"Sun stands with Snow, and the Spirit will soon be here. You cannot win Maleficent."

"Perhaps not," she responded. "But I can make sure you lose, all the same."

Faster than Aurora could react, Maleficent vanished from sight in an explosion of shadows, reappearing above Elsa, who tried vainly and weakly to struggle backwards. Her failure was a foregone conclusion given her dislocated shoulder and exhaustion, and Maleficent placed the staff on her chest. Elsa saw Aurora turn towards her, but time itself seemed to slow down and her movements seemed sluggish to the Arendellian Queen.

"Consider this my revenge, to watch one of your line, slay the others," Maleficent hissed, and her black eyes bored into Elsa's, holding her gaze even as she laid there on the ground. "Witness the birth of a truly unstoppable Heartless."

Shadow billowed out from her staff, smothering her head in darkness, and Elsa couldn't resist it entering her nose and mouth. She tried, even with no real strength left to give, she tried, but the smoke found a way. She could no more stop breathing than she could have flown unaided and thick oily blackness took the place of oxygen in her lungs as the smoke seemed to seep into her very soul.

The world seemed to fade away, going grey and then dark and the voices of Maleficent and Aurora and the others who had just arrived became indistinct as if being heard from a long distance. As her vision darkened, images replaced eyesight. Every dark thought she'd ever had, began to flash behind her eyes, and nightmares, deeper and darker than any she had ever dreamed exploded into her mind.

And lying on the forest floor in Corona, Elsa began to scream.

TBC.


End file.
